Obviously, we are a collective hot mess. Our hot mess has been dramatized within our political process. Lots of shooting off at the mouth, slamming of opinions and beliefs, blaming, name calling, wailing and gnashing of teeth and wringing of hands.
Tomorrow there will be a presidential winner and a presidential loser. There will be speeches and mean spirited posts. Schools that are polling places will be closed and if the schools are open, some parents will keep their children home because they are uncertain of polling place safety. Not just parents are fearing violent repercussions. For many of us, it may not even matter what the winning and losing candidates say. We don't trust their words anyway. We are so jaded.
My personal plan is to start local. That would be my immediate family and my local community. Be intentional. Compromise, lift others, help others be the persons they were born to be. When I disagree, I hope to agree to disagree and not return unkind words with unkind words. Wish the other person peace beyond my own understanding. Use my defenses, not to defend my opinion but to defend the marginalized. I want to have expectations that other people are capable of this same behavior. I know they are because I witness it daily. I will look to those people who model this behavior.
I want to expect that elected leaders find common ground and use wisdom in their decision making. If they do not, I will use the voting booth. "Don't boo, vote."
On a positive note, the issues we are facing are not hiding. No pretending we do not have problems with trust, us vs them, racism, respect, economic insecurity, health care equity, American poverty, homelessness, mental health care, national security, inner city violence, job insecurity, and so on. Cannot fix it if we don't know it's broken.
I cannot ask people to stop the shouting and the vitriol but I can not listen to it anymore.
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