This Election Day, There Will Be No Hugs
But we can still support each other
The night of Election Day, 2016, my upstairs neighbor came over to drink wine and listen to the results — we’d celebrate together, we figured. Late into the night, the numbers started to tell a story we hadn’t expected. We hugged before she went back to her apartment, both of us bewildered.
The next day, too, was all about hugs. I went to work early and there was only one other person in the office — a co-worker I barely knew — and without so much as saying a thing to each other, we hugged. Later that day I picked up my kids from school and ran into parent friends and, wordlessly, we hugged. Walking the kids home we saw neighbors and, that’s right, hugged. Maybe I’m remembering wrong but it seems to me that no one even spoke. It was just clear that everyone was stunned and needed a hug.
This year, though, there will be no hugs. At least, not with anyone who’s not in our preordained Covid bubbles. The simple ways we used to be able to comfort one other — or celebrate together! — are now largely unavailable to us. And yet, no matter what the outcome is, we are going to need to process this election with our friends and communities.
Maybe you’ll be called upon to give a pep talk to a friend or family member who really needs some emotional…
