When the results of US presidential elections were announced, the whole world was shocked and surprised at Republican Donald Trump’s victory. Needless to say, President Barack Obama who had campaigned for Democrat Hillary Clinton was equally appalled at the results.
And what was more difficult for him was to explain it to his daughters.
In an interview to New Yorker, Obama said that he comforted his daughters by saying that people are complicated and said motivated them to stand up against bigotry and intolerance.
“Societies and cultures are really complicated. … This is not mathematics; this is biology and chemistry. These are living organisms, and it’s messy. And your job as a citizen and as a decent human being is to constantly affirm and lift up and fight for treating people with kindness and respect and understanding, “he said.
He also added, “And you should anticipate that at any given moment there’s going to be flare-ups of bigotry that you may have to confront, or may be inside you and you have to vanquish. And it doesn’t stop… You don’t get into a fetal position about it. You don’t start worrying about apocalypse. You say, O.K., where are the places where I can push to keep it moving forward.”
Meanwhile, last week, Obama met US President-elect Donald Trump for the first time to discuss his transition to the latter’s inauguration on January 20.
(Feature image source: Reuters)