This, by far, is my favorite photo that I have ever taken. I was walking down the streets of Lisbon when I stumbled upon this amazing street art. As Lisbon is a bit of a hipster’s paradise, that is saying a lot. There is street art everywhere, so it is tough to truly pick out any one favorite.

But this is possibly the most evocative piece that I have ever seen—in or out of a museum.

The emotion is expressed equal parts love and what I am feeling especially now—relief. It is an apropos posting because it expresses exactly what I felt on Saturday when Joe Biden was elected president.

To be honest, I wasn’t expecting him to win. In the same way, I didn’t expect Trump to win. Or Obama for that matter. I know that sometimes I get so caught up in the pain that I have felt in this country that I delve deeply into cynicism.

I left the US a little less than two months after the death of Sandra Bland and the murder of the parishioners of Mother Emmanuel AME Church. I modulated between feeling raw, numb, and infuriated. I got on the plane to Spain vowing never to come back. I was going to get off that plane and make a life for myself, come hell or high water.

But I got off the plane and stepped into a puddle. And the more I walked, the higher I rose until I was swimming in the same familiar sea of what I had been running away from in America. So after 3 years, I left Spain and went to Portugal, Turkey, Israel, Palestine, and Thailand. But wouldn’t you know it? Racism found me in every locale. Thailand being the sole exception.

It took different forms, fetishization, condescension, and/or xenophobia. A buoy among the waves of anti-blackness (read anti-Africanness) was my American passport - which made me both privileged and oppressed. People often didn’t believe me when I told them that I was from the US and demanded to know the origins of my parents and grandparents. But somehow, my response of North and South Carolina never seemed to suffice.

It was then that I realized that traveling or living abroad was no panacea. There was no magical place where all my troubles disappeared and happiness reigned.

Everything in life is a trade-off in which we hope to increase from not-so-great to better. And along the way, there will be fits and starts. Progression and regression, until hopefully at the end of it all we can look back and say, it wasn’t perfect, but it was a job well done.

What is your takeaway from last week’s election?

Thoughts on the US Presidential Election From a Former ExPat