We are going to be okay. Even Tom Hanks has assured us of that. During a recent tribute to his career at the Museum of Modern Art, Hanks looked over his audience and, instead of launching into his acceptance speech, he stated: "We are going to be all right." The audience knew exactly what he was talking about, and so do we.

The 5 Stages of Grief: Week Two

In 1969, Swiss psychiatrist Elisabeth Kubler-Ross disclosed to the general public the "five stages of grief" in her best-selling book On Death and Dying. Dr. Kubler-Ross described these five stages of grief, normally experienced with traumatic events, which are: 1) denial; 2) anger; 3) bargaining; 4) depression; and 5) acceptance. Sound familiar? Dr. Kubler-Ross warns that these stages are not necessarily linear and, sometimes, some stages are repeated. Nevertheless, the sooner we wade through these post-election stages of grief, the better we will be. Obviously, acceptance is the hardest, but that doesn't mean we are accepting Donald Trump. We need only accept that, for better or worse, he is the president-elect.

On the bright side, Dallas County Democrats have a silver lining that many counties in Texas do not have. We are grateful that every Democrat running a countywide race won! We even picked up a House District seat, when Democratic nominee Victoria Neave defeated 3-term Republican incumbent Kenneth Sheets in HD107. Additionally, in HD105, Democratic nominee Terry Meza was only 120 votes apart from Republican nominee Rodney Anderson. Since the election, the Dallas County Ballot Board has been reviewing provisional ballots to determine if that number will change. No matter the outcome, Republican incumbents got the message, loud and clear, this year: Not only is Dallas County still blue, but we are coming after our Texas legislative seats too.

Know Thyself

We have all heard the sage advice, attributable to the great philosopher Socrates, that we must first "know thyself." Indeed, we must. We must know our goals, our dreams and our abilities to achieve them. We must also prepare ourselves for 2018.

Many Dallas County Democrats have expressed an interest in attending discussion groups to discuss with fellow Democrats the presidential election, the shock, the anger, the need to rebuild, and coping mechanisms to move on to the next step. If you are interested in attending such a discussion group, call the Dallas County Democratic Party (DCDP) Office at 214-821-8331 or email Executive Director Carmen Ayala at [email protected].

Know Your Audience

The advice to "know your audience" is such common marketing advice that no individual has been credited with this phrase. However, a similar phrase is credited to the Chinese General Sun Tzu, who wrote The Art of War. He stated, "If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle."

Thus, it is time for us to examine the entire field, to avoid the mistakes of the last election, and to improve our effective strategies. For strategic planning and election analysis, we are gearing up for our annual "Blue in the Heart of Texas" seminar, which will take place, after the holidays, in January 2017. This major event will be announced on our Facebook and through emails to all of you who receive this weekly column.

To Thine Own Self Be True

It is Shakespeare who is credited with the sage advice "to thine own self be true." As we prepare for the next election, we cannot forget our own Democratic principles, goals and platform. Yes, we will study our Party and our potential voters, and we will recruit more voters into the Democratic Party. However, we will not stray from what makes us the great Party that we are. Though we will recruit more voters, we will not attempt to recruit those who are sexist, racist or homophobic, nor will we be recruiting those who support the persecution of others based on their religion or nationality. We will, however, recruit those voters who were misled into believing that they would miraculously find employment under Donald Trump, whose tax plan and economic plan will benefit only the top one-percenters, not the American blue-collar workers. We will also recruit the disenfranchised millennial voters, who were inspired to get involved in politics for the first time in order to work for Bernie Sanders and/or Hillary Clinton.

Inspired to Work

In the words of Tom Hanks, "We will take everything that has been handed to us as Americans, and we will turn our nation, and we will turn the future, and we will turn all the work that we have before us into some brand new thing of beauty." Many Democratic clubs are reporting an increase in visitors and new members. Likewise, the DCDP office is experiencing an increase in calls, visits and emails from people who are upset about the election and want to volunteer. We are putting them to work, but we need you too. Here's how you can help now: