The world got an answer it did not expect in the American presidential election.

Half of us are in shock.

Half of us are celebrating.

All of us have no idea what to really expect.

Maybe this is the end.  Maybe lunatics will now be at the helm and take this ship right into oblivion.

Or maybe not.  Maybe instead of the Blue, the Red get a chance to “do what they said they would and figure out that politics is, at best, a balancing act, a machine that only allows so much deviation before one is swatted back to the reality of status quo.

So in this land of the question mark, what do we writers do?  What is the role of the scribe in times of change?

We document.  We inspire.   We are either the lens through which humanity will be viewed or we can be a light helping it see.

We write what happened, how it happened, when it happened and even possibly why.  It is our job to make sure that the details of a time are immortalized as well as the voice of those in the change.  Even if we write fiction, our stories will have the flavor and sound of the time.  Our writings will have the unique fingerprint of an era woven between the words.  If the concept of documenting seems daunting, look to writings of Thomas Paine or to the more recent works of Tom Brokaw’s Greatest Generation.

Writers inspire, fan the flames of hope if change is terrifying or we quell the waves of uncertainty if change is optimistic.  Economies may fall.  Dictators may have armies.  Diseases may have infected.  But writers will always have words and they are countless and outnumber any opposing force.  Many a dark time in history has been influenced the by writings of one or of many.  If you doubt this, merely look to the Diary of Anne Frank, Alex Haley’s Roots and even the Bible itself.

So pick up your pen.  Power up your laptop.  As times change, write about their shift and light a candle in the dark.