The day after the election, as I was sad and grieving, I was also making apple crisp. As I didn’t have the bit of rum I needed for my recipe, I headed to the liquor store near my King Soopers. As I walked out with my little bottle of rum in a paper bag, a man parked next to me said, “Your side must have lost.” I gave him a half-smile an shook my head yes. He then said, “You must be a Democrat,” to which I responded, “Lifelong.” The man raised his voice and yelled at me, “You are a Marxist, and everything you say the Republicans did, you did!” I replied, “You have strong opinions,” to which he venomously said, “This is not opinion, it is fact.” I said no more.
Shock at the hate just shown to me by a complete stranger was now added to this terribly sad day. I am a 63-year-old Caucasian mother of five, a grandmother of six, and have lived in the Denver metro area all of my life. Never, ever, has anyone spoken to me in such a hateful way. As I drove home, shaken, I realized that the green light has been given for outward displays of hate. When I got home, I had to look up what being a Marxist means, and I am not one. I don’t know if Donald Trump’s words, “Stop it,” which he said this past weekend, will be taken seriously, but I can only repeat it here, and I pray you listen: Stop it.
Peggy Mowry, Highlands Ranch
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