A Space for Joy

This past week felt endless as the United States, alongside the rest of the world, waited with bated breath for the results of the presidential election. I felt restless and experienced mental tunnel vision in the sense that I could not bring myself to think about much else. Everyone knew what was at stake if Trump won the election, and when it was confirmed that President-elect Joe Biden won, it was like a weight was lifted off the shoulders of the earth.

I had told a few of my friends that I was not prepared for the emotions I would feel regardless of the results of the election. If Trump was re-elected, the devastation would be immeasurable, and I was not mentally prepared for that outcome. I can only describe my emotions as pure elation when Biden was confirmed to be the president-elect. My happiness did not stem from the choice of candidate or the fact that Democratic beliefs align more with my personal beliefs more than Republican views do, but from the fact that we voted a bigot out of office.

As the news of Biden’s election became more widespread, social media was quick to jump into the equation. Social media is a beautiful thing because it brings people together in a lot of ways. It mobilizes movements and helps spread information a lot faster than by news outlets or word of mouth alone. But following the election, I found that I had more qualms with social media than reasons to celebrate it. Sure, I was able to see the ways people in New York City, Boston, and Philadelphia were dancing in the street, celebrating in a beautiful display of joy, but I was also subjected to a bombardment of reminders about how Joe Biden is not perfect, and how we must immediately hold him accountable for the flaws and shortcomings of his 47 previous years in politics. 

The general idea of this, I understand, because we have fallen into a habit as a society of glorifying politicians and blindly supporting our “teams” when we should be thinking critically. It is reasonable to remind people that no one is perfect and that we must continue to rally behind progressive ideals if we want to change the fabric of our society for the better. However, there was another tone added to these reminders, almost like celebrating Biden’s victory meant that people were going to begin treating him like he could do no wrong. I had to turn off my phone for a while because social media was so quick to shut down any reason for celebration, operating under the assumption that people think in absolutes.

We as a society, and a society that is very quickly becoming dependent on social media for interactions and knowledge, must understand that the thoughts that people express on the internet are not how people interact in real life. No one is as polarized or as black and white as social media depicts us to be because social media is one-dimensional while personal connections are a combination of interactions. In this case, just because someone is celebrating Biden’s victory does not mean that they are unaware of his policies or past ideals. Feeling joy because Trump is now only a one-term president does not automatically mean people are not thinking critically about how a Biden administration will look. The ideas expressed on social media are not equivalent to real life as much as we are becoming used to treating them like they are real life interactions. People should be allowed to feel joy about something without immediately being reminded of reasons why they should not be celebrating. This is not the way the world works.

So, as we celebrate a momentous win for our country, allow yourself to feel joyful with a full heart. Of course there is work to do ahead, there will never not be obstacles ahead of us, especially in such a polarized and dynamic country as the United States. Future work is implied with every win we encounter, but allowing ourselves to celebrate the victories along the way is essential to fostering hope among the people and motivation to continue moving forward.