Happy Place

HAPPY

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE

It has been an emotionally draining week

and this weekend being longer, it was a

welcome reprieve to spend a couple days

staycationing in South Lake Tahoe. One of

my best friends from college was here all

the way from Manila anyway, so it was a

requisite all-girl weekend at the Lake.

The mountains have been my therapy and

I never take it for granted that I live in such

close proximity to forests and alpine lakes.

On an early, warm, and cloudless autumn

morning, here on the south shore of

Lake Tahoe, I seek refuge.

And found it.

I am confounded by what is going on in the world today.

I (and 61 million other Americans out there) am reeling

from the recent election results in America. I suppose

that is the nature of democracy. I will accept how the

nation has voted (after the grief and whilst employing

every known defense mechanism in the book such as

bingeing on junk food, finding consolation in groups,

mountain therapy, disavowing any form of cable news

from here on, watching benign TV shows like House

Hunters International and the Kardashians,

yadda yadda yadda).

I guess what is the toughest pill to swallow is the

realization that there are people who will choose to

hate. I just cannot make sense of it. I cannot wrap my

head around the idea of persecuting someone because

of the color of one's skin, one's accent, one's religious beliefs. It is a heartbreaking moment to realize that

we still live in a world like this where there are still people who hate intensely on that basis.

The consolation is that I don't have to wake up in the

morning everyday bearing that kind of all-consuming

hatred. And I am optimistic that the end, no matter what,

love still trumps hate.