I remember taking this photo on the morning of November 8, 2016. It was a glorious, sunny morning. The neighborhood was peaceful.

A few people converse outside a one-story building with tiled roof, next to signs that read "vote" and "votar." A flagpost hangs the American flag. It's a sunny day. There is a large tree in the background.
Voting on November 8, 2016. Courtesy of Ruth Sasaki.

I had already voted, but I always like to walk by my polling place to see if others are voting.

What made me take this photo was that I realized, if things did not go as we hoped, this might be the last day that our country would exist as we knew it.

It was a fleeting but ominous thought; but after eight years of an Obama presidency, I was hopeful and believed our country was ready to take the next step and elect a smart, capable woman as president.

I never imagined the nightmare that that day’s work would thrust us into. I suspected things would get worse–but the fall of Roe v. Wade? The uglification/destruction of Washington D.C.? Neighbors and friends of color being kidnapped off the streets and from their homes and disappearing into concentration camps? Record numbers of people dying in said camps? U.S. citizens being murdered on the streets for trying to help their neighbors? Despicable law-breakers going free through the White House’s Buy-a-Pardon racket? Unnecessary wars started, the military arsenal depleted, civilians and children bombed? A President using taxpayer dollars as his personal piggy bank? Billionaires paying people to vote their way? There is so much more.

Let’s end this nightmare. Today can be the first step. If you vote.