The Day Afterward

“It’s almost over. Hillary Clinton and Donald J. Trump cut different paths across the country on Monday, the final full day of campaigning for the 2016 election, the nastiest in many decades and one that will leave an uncertain legacy for future cycles.”

----New York Times Nov.7.2016

That was the last sort of thing in my mind when I went to bed. On the day afterward, November 8th 2016, I woke up just like any other typical day: first, by the birds; then the sunlight coming through the curtain that I intentionally left exposed. My first conscious move seemed usual as well: I reached my phone to check the time. Then, at that moment when my eyes settled on the screen, everything went off the track. I saw a short message that Donald Trump won the election. Immediately, I was electrified, sitting straight up from my bed and fully awake.

My initial reaction was pure surprise. It felt entirely different from the kind of surprise of birthday parties or Christmas presents but more like waking up in the Matrix or hearing that you will bear a son named Jesus. It was hardly real, even after I checked on every major news websites. News had never been a source of surprises in my life, in fact, it was quite the opposite. I knew two planes crashed when they crashed. Mitt Romney was not going to win, and Obamacare was going to happen, not even mention these Chinese play-conventions. I had a strange feeling that I was related to this event in a way that it expressed something about me.

Hastily gathering all of my stuff for school, I rushed down the stairs. I had to take the school bus early in the morning. On the way, I meet my host mom. My first phrase to her unsurprisingly was: “Mum, did you know Trump won the election?”

“Yeah,” My host mum was still in her pajamas with a big smile on her face saying, “Dad and I watched it on the TV last night.”

I was still in the shock and said, “I could not believe it actually happened.”

She shrugged and respond, “Me neither.”

There was no time for further conversation. I ran to the bus, in which it would take an hour to get to the school. The strong vibration on the way gradually eased my emotion. I started to pay attention on the small billboards on each house’s front yard and noticed that many of them supported Trump.

Still on the way, with nothing to do in particular, my train of thought shifted back to the coming classes of the day. Among them, the one I most excited about was Mr. Skaer(1.0)’s World History class, because we were going to have a debate about the Atlantic slave trade that whether Africans or Europeans were more responsible for the result. I had been preparing for about two weeks. During the process, I learned many surprising insights from the other side that slavery already existed in Africa and some African countries willingly sold their slaves to Europeans. I could not wait for an interesting discussion on this topic, while anything else was simply thrown at the back of my mind.

World History was on the first period, so I went in classroom; as soon as I arrived, I took out the notes for the debate. Other students in my class started to come in as well. Looking at them, I vaguely sensed something was different. There was an unusual silence between them consisted of nodding and eye contacts. Maybe they were just tired early in the morning. When the class started, Mr. Skaer walked in also with this invisible weight on his shoulder. He did not start the class in his often energetic way like standing on the top of a stool. Instead, he slowly pulled out a chair and sat down in front of us, which was something he had never done before. I was confused by all these abnormal behaviors and wondered if something bad happened to Mr. Skaer’s family.

In midst of this quietness, Mr. Skaer spoke gentlelly to us the following: “Hi guys, unfortunately I have to make the decision that we are not going to have the debate anymore. It’s just that now is not a good time for such topic. Don’t worry, you can just share your notes with me, and I will grade you based on that.”

Afterward, he began to teach us the Atlantic slave trade, including the horrible middle passage with slaves dying and the diseases European people brought to Native American people. I guessed I was right at the beginning that I was related to this event personally.