‘What are you worried about?’ said my friend. ‘You’re a British white woman. It won’t affect you in any way.’

This same British, male, friend is perfectly happy that Donald Trump will be the USA’s 47th president because he supports Israel and, basically that’s all he is concerned about. This is a man I have known and loved for decades and it’s a shock to realise that no, he truly doesn’t care about the climate crisis, he doesn’t care that women in America (like so many women elsewhere) do not have bodily autonomy, he doesn’t care about animal welfare or safe foods and he doesn’t care about mass deportations.

Why should he? They won’t affect him in any way. 

This is the attitude we are seeing all too often nowadays. ‘I’m all right Jack’ — that old English expression indicating smug and complacent selfishness which was summed up in the 1959 movie of the same name.

And this is the attitude that explains exactly why Donald Trump will be the 47th president. All the otherwise-undecideds who deep inside preferred any white man over any woman, let alone a woman of colour, know that they will be all right.

Fair enough, we need to distance ourselves from the angst that is flying around right now (that’s after we have allowed grief and lament to heal our wounded hearts a little). And as a pastor I do have to say that we need to love our enemies (see my video on why that is SO important – for US not for ‘them’ here). The whole point of that teaching is to ensure that we don’t drop to the energetic level of our enemies – which is exactly what the USA has done in its vilification of Islam.

So what do we do, we women whom this will not affect? We step up and speak out again and again and again. No, we don’t fight because we were not created to fight. We were created to nurture, to guide, to teach, to inspire, to be the creators ourselves. And fighting lowers you to the level of our opponent. Before you get cross at that, consider Athena, goddess of wisdom. She has a sword, a spear and a shield. She holds them proudly but (apart from Marvel-type movies and don’t get me started on those today!) she does not use them because she does not need to use them. They are part of her and everyone knows they are there and because she knows how to use them, she never has to.

During my divorce I learnt Thai Boxing. Among my friends it was known as ‘kicking the shit out of Bob’ and it was intensely therapeutic for a couple of sessions. But after that, once I knew that I could kick the shit out of Bob (the instructor), in fact, as soon as I knew that I could kill a man in two moves, I didn’t need to. I had all the power of Athena – and it showed.

A few months after I ceased kicking the shit out of Bob, a couple of blokes made an attempt to mug me on the London Underground. I stood there like Athena and said, ‘I don’t think so.’ They melted away into the crowd because somehow they knew that this was not the right middle-aged woman to mess with. It’s all in the energy friends!

Gentlefolk of every persuasion, this is the power we must use. Whenever we see any harm being done in any case – especially in the case of Project 25 – we speak up, we speak out and we stand firm. We don’t physically have to kick the shit out of No. 47 (much as we might like to), we simply have to know that we could. From that spiritual strength will come the answers we need in the time that we need them.

And we will create. Art, writing, music, knitting – whatever it is – we will create. Because creation is more powerful than destruction and creation brings new life.

Am I still worried? Of course I am; I’m human. But I’m also Athena. I will do what is mine to do while offering haven for anyone who needs it. I will stand strong with my sword undrawn but definitely there. And so will you.

We got this. Every day we will have this. And we will prevail. And if you need to find a Bob so you can learn how to kick the shit out of him, go to it! I highly recommend it.