I was going to post something I had already written. I was going to continue my previously explored subject matter. I want to do that, but I want it to be tomorrow.
I am profoundly disturbed by something and I would be remiss if I ignored that feeling. I would be foolish to leave it unattended. Unacknowledged. Abandoned.
Today is Election Day in the United States of America. Some of my fondest memories as a child involve a trip to the voting booths with my parents. We stood close together, fall jackets swishing as we huddled behind that scratchy polyester curtain. With guidance through urgent whispers, I flipped each metal switch, logging in my mom or dad’s vote. I felt special. I felt empowered. I felt excited to one day go through those motions myself, for me. I couldn’t fucking wait to vote.
Today has always been a day of joy and celebration for me. We get to exercise our right. We are participating in an age-old and very sacred ritual.
I hear talk of a rigged election and I pause. I’ve traveled to countries where the elections are truly rigged. I’ve visited places around the globe where the winners are decided before a single ballot is cast. I’ve journeyed to countries where the decision to not vote for one particular candidate can be detrimental to one’s health or livelihood. I’ve voyaged to locales where the choice to abstain from voting for the “chosen” candidate can result in imprisonment or disappearance.
Is our system flawed? You bet your ass it is. It has warts and bumps and lumps and there is a LOT of room for improvement. The electoral college has issues. Our polling centers have issues. Our tabulation systems have issues. Our predictive tools have issues. We have inconsistent voting laws and voter suppression. But you know what? It ain’t half bad as compared to what the rest of the world has and it requires study and tweaking and modification, but maybe not the proverbial garbage pail. Not the fiery insanity that I am witnessing all around me.
It is our privilege that blinds us into believing that we are somehow slighted in this election. Each side is crying unfairness from end to end. We fail to celebrate this democracy that we are blessed with because we are too busy, red-faced and filled with rage, to recognize what we have. Please do not mistake my appreciation for our democracy as a failure to recognize its flaws. I do not love this country because I am blind to its faults, but in spite of them. I love this country with an eye to what it has been and what it can become.
We are not rejoicing in our right to have differing points of views and perspectives. We are killing each other. We have replaced a free landscape with a killing field.
Our citizens are speaking of civil war in casual terms. Casual war? No such thing exists. Anywhere, at any time. Again, countries around the globe are plagued with civil wars. Their citizens watch their brethren, their fellow humans, perish for a cause that they believe to be just and righter than any other. What is that cause? What is that cost? Is there some sense to that equation? I think not.
I’ve spoken about this before but today, on one of my most favorite days, my heart is so broken that I feel compelled to speak again. Not to speak louder or more angrily. To speak honestly. To speak plainly.
We can do better. We are uncivil. We are self-righteous. We are name callers. We are bullies. We are slanderous. We are fact-ignoring opinion pushers. We are hateful. We are intolerant. We are impatient. We are tired but boorishly relentless. We are losing the forest through the trees. We are losing each other. We are lost.
There is a different way. You don’t have to agree to converse. You don’t have to agree to respect. You can disavow and distain hatred and hurt, but you can also try to understand to be part of the solution. Nothing and I mean nothing is fixed in this world if we cannot understand it.
A weed grows in our garden and we are exasperated and rip it out. It grows again and we rip it out again. And again. And again. One day we kneel down in the earth and bring our eyes and nose close to that silly little weed and ask why. Why is it here? How did it get here? Why won’t it go away? Where else can it go? Then, we can find a solution. The solution might still result in removing the weed but there is a new understanding. There is something to process and consider. There is a kindness and an efficiency in our action when we move forward. There is love.
I have read so much that my brain hurts. I have read about how much hatred lies in each of us and my heart has broken into a zillion pieces over and over again. It is the hurt of a heart that has known brokenness before and views this particular bit of sadness as a new depth. A new threshold. A new high or a new low.
It profoundly matters who is elected to the office of President. It matters more how we elect to treat each other. Our behavior is deplorable. It is maddening. It is disappointing. It is a poor example for our children. It is a bad impression for the people around the world watching us. It is the very worst of who we are rolled up into a ball of unproductiveness and unrest.
If we are emboldened by the way we’ve been acting, then I would contend our strength is fake. A façade. A penetrable fortress. A weakened veneer.
Please understand that I too have participated to some extent and I am now choosing to tap out. I am not marching into ignorance. I am moving towards kindness. I am moving towards tolerance. I am moving towards education. I am moving towards compassion. I am moving towards love.
I have so much more to learn but I know this is not the way. This has never been the way.
Where do we start? Gratitude. We have so much to fix in this country but also, we have so much for which to be thankful. Let’s count our blessings, big and small. Let’s look at where improvement is necessary and desired. Let’s work with each other instead of against each other.
We cannot move immovable objects but we can seek out others with a like-minded flexibility and begin the conversation. The only way out is through.
I hope our country is as peaceful as it can be over the next few days. I hope for grace and patience and non-violence. This is not about a side. This is about people. Each of us. All of us.
Love is love.
Have a good night. I will talk to you tomorrow.
L.
thepathtoworthy.com 