Helping & Healing

Healing the National Rift — A Story to Help Children & Families Post-Election

Whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or Green Party member — whether you are an American voter or not — whether you live in the United States or not, it is very likely that you are ready for the United States presidential election to end.

It has been divisive — it has pitted Americans against each other. It has been hateful and hurtful. We are tired of the name-calling, the anger, the disappointment, the shame and the feeling like history is being made … but not the kind of history we will be proud of.

And here is another hard truth:

The hard part of the election will not end after election day. The real work - the hard work - is still ahead of us.

And what is that work?

We need to heal. We need to find a way to unite as one country again.

But how?

And - what if we deeply believe that the "other side" is wrong?

What if we think the other side is "dangerous" or "uninformed" or "self serving"?

What if we think the election was a turn for the worse and that the future is in jeopardy?

Or that the election was a mandate for change and that it is time for the other side to fall in line?

How do you bridge that gap?

Whether we want Trump, Clinton, Johnson, Stein or McMullin to be president, I think we can all agree that our children were not better served by how many of the candidates (and supporters) have behaved. Our children have heard the name-calling, the threats, the dire language and the desperation and - to be sure - they aren’t feeling great about our country.

So what do we do?

How do we reach out to the “other side” and make an authentic attempt to heal?

This story is about how to start.

The Fischer from the Top Branch: A Story of Healing After an Election

This is a story about a difficult and hurtful election and the kind of empathy and courage it takes to heal and unite a community when the election is over.

24 min

5+

We hope this story will help your family process all the emotion swirling around the election - and be inspired to be a part of the healing solution. To be an empathetic servant to the whole, rather than a specific party.

Here in Sparkle Land, we try to see opportunities in the discomfort and pain. We try to see opportunities for connection when emotions are high and fear is leading much of the discourse.

This is certainly one of those times - and we wish you all many opportunities to transform pain into love - and division into unity.

NOTE:

This story has no Sparkle advertisement – only a short copyright tag at the end. It is intended as a gift to support families who may find it useful.

Feel free to share this story as often as you’d like. We give permission for it to be shared freely.