Best quote of the day: Data is not information, information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding, understanding is not wisdom.

All we have to do is look at the recent election results if we want proof of this statement. We were drowning in polls. Data was flashing across screens all across America, information being thrown at us nonstop. But we did not understand. When the pollsters said Hillary had to win because 44% was her “floor” but 40% appeared to be his “ceiling,” people nodded as if that made sense, as if they understood the likely implications of the floor/ceiling argument. Where did our wisdom fail us?

I’ll start with that 40%. When 4 out of 10 people admit to preferring a candidate whose very name can decimate some Facebook friend lists, that’s a fierce indicator that the polls cannot be trusted. Hillary’s “deplorables” comment hit many, many nerves but the response was mostly a flurry of funny memes, followed by quiet, too much quiet for a comment directed at such a large chunk of the electorate. I believe that quiet stemmed from a shut-down, from a sense on the part of Trump supporters that admitting their preference could result in insults at best, loss of friends at worst.

I believe the press betrayed America. Not by the truths they told, or by the pictures of the Donald making fun of the handicapped, calling opposing candidates names, or making boastful, sexist comments on the bus. Those were all news.

But the news also treated Trump supporters as buffoons and I’d say that, just as they selected the ugliest pictures of Trump they could find for most of their articles and TV reports, they also pulled out what they viewed as entertaining wackiness when showing Trump supporters. Not all that disaffection deserved to be treated with contempt, however, If I lived in Flint, I would feel utterly betrayed by my ruling government. All across the Midwest people feel that betrayal. Those 46% who did not vote? I’m sure many in south Chicago stayed home.

We had some real issues we might have discussed. I might have started with the fact that something like 90% of the people picking our melons are undocumented. If they are sent home, I predict that the melons rot for the first year or two. Then wages go up enough to draw local workers and we start buying our $10 watermelons. I’d have gone on to discuss the many kids who have been raised here, kids who sometimes speak little Spanish and write less.

And the whole idea of a registry… Our government can already track all of us by cell phones I imagine, but the concept of a Muslim registry remains scary and so wrong. I am reminded of the Ben Franklin quotation, “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”

Where were those discussions? Where were the issues? Where are they? In my view, lack of courtesy shut down those conversations, buried them in attacks and ugly pictures and echo-chamber overconfidence.

Eduhonesty: Today’s wisdom for the day will be a return to an earlier post. Don’t panic. When the news has carried as much bias as we have seen recently, don’t assume that the Donald Trump presented on TV and in the news will be the Donald Trump who becomes President. We don’t know who is about to become President. I’m not sure the President-elect knows. The implications of his win may only now be settling in on him.

In January, we begin to ride the rapids of a new Presidency. Trump says he wants to bring American together again. Let’s give him his chance. (It’s not like we have much choice.) Let’s also keep in mind that all those Republicans want to be re-elected. I’d rather we kept the kids in school rather than on the streets, but if we protest let’s not scatter our efforts.

NO REGISTRY! That’s where we ought to begin. The American internment of the Japanese in World War II is not a precedent. That relocation was a travesty and life-altering injustice based mostly in racism and paranoia.

It’s too late for “No Trump!” and protesters might as well put those signs down. Instead, it’s time to tell our representatives, “If you want to be re-elected, you had better vote against X, Y and Z.” Democracy works, at least when people make their voices heard. Our leaders want to be re-elected and this last election proves that even front-runners can be toppled when too many people feel excluded and unheard.

I’d like to make one last plea for courtesy and kindness. Our students need us to channel Martin Luther King, Jr., right now. When the dialog drips contempt or erupts into irrational – or even rational — rage, the dialog dies. We can’t afford those glacial silences. We are overdue for a great many conversations between the Coasts and the Heartland.