Earlier this month, the results of the presidential election shocked people all over the world.
Many people are struggling to come to terms with the fact that a racist, sexist,disablist (among other things) man, will now run the United States of America.
A lot of parents have been wondering how to explain to their children what happened, and what to say to them about it.
Perhaps those wondering, should take inspiration from what Barack Obama told his daughters.
Speaking to The Newyoker, current president Obama explained his thoughts and feelings towards the unexpected result.
He was asked to explain how he spoke about the election to his daughters, Malia, 18, and Sasha, 16, Obama gave this response.
“What I say to them is that people are complicated,”
“Societies and cultures are really complicated… And your job as a citizen and as a decent human being is to constantly affirm and lift up and fight for treating people with kindness and respect and understanding. And you should anticipate that at any given moment there’s going to be flare-ups of bigotry that you may have to confront, or may be inside you and you have to vanquish. And it doesn’t stop.” He said.
”You don’t get into a fetal position about it. You don’t start worrying about apocalypse. You say, O.K., where are the places where I can push to keep it moving forward.”
