about tomorrow. I really am. I usually have these feeling before an election: nervous anticipation, fear, concern, excitement and hope. This election, well, it's more anxious than anything. It's basically all anxious. I've not written anything really about the candidates, nor will I here today. By now I think people who call themselves "undecided" aren't that at all. They know for whom they will vote, they just don't want the judgment they'll face if they actually name their choice. This election has been hell. And even when it's over, it's really only just begun.
We all have issues that we prioritize when picking a candidate. Jobs, education, health care, gun rights, abortion, equal rights, environment... on and on and on. One of those topics or combinations of them are the stuff that keeps us awake at night trying to piece together justification for voting for this guy or that woman. There are infinite social media posts about how "bad" he is or she is. You can read them until you absolutely feel panic. Yet that changes nothing. Tomorrow we decide. It will happen with or without you.
Here's what I want to talk about, what about the day after tomorrow? The day we all wake up and this has been decided (hopefully) and we are all still Americans? How do we move forward from this huge divide we all feel? Them and us. His side and hers.
The leader of this country is one person. There is this big beautiful nation full of citizens who are trying to do what they feel is best for us. I truly believe that. Perhaps what they think is best isn't what I think is best, but I believe that none of us want to see this country fail. We don't want to hate our neighbors or step on the necks of our countrymen to further our personal agendas.
I believe that this country has been through horribly dark days, days where we could barely raise our heads. Days where we didn't think we'd recover, much less thrive. At the beginning we were the underdogs. We declared our independence, fought for it, built a more perfect union. We were split in two during a hateful civil war, literally. Men shot and killed their neighbors, yet we reunited. We saw injustice that previously was accepted as righteousness and changed the collective conscious to begin to weed out the wrongs done to our fellow men and women.
We have marched and protested and supported. We've made terrible decisions and achieved greatness. We've succeed only to fail and failed only to then succeed. We've tried and tried and tried. And we have never quit. We have hoped and believed and doubted and feared. We've been attacked from outside and inside and rebuilt. We have stood up, shaken the defeat from our shoes and walked on. Forward. Pressing towards the goal of what our Forefathers and Mothers envisioned for us. Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. To be free and equal. To work diligently, tirelessly, endlessly to make it better for the next generation.
If we are true patriots, truly patriotic, we do not want us to fail. We do not want to fail our children. We do not wish harm on each other. We win with grace and lose with dignity. And we pass those things onto our children. We lead by example.
Whatever happens tomorrow. I am an American. I am proud. I am your neighbor, your friend, your community. Without you, there is no us. No matter who wins, I hope they succeed in continuing to build a more perfect union. I hope that we remember that we cannot be the end of what has been so nobly built. We must continue to be united. We're the underdogs, yet here we are winning. This is our 57th Presidential election. This will not break us. Decide THAT today with me. No debating, no campaign ads, just you and me and our nation, united in the belief that our form of government is the ideal. That the way we do things should set a standard. That out of many, we are one.
Tomorrow I'll be rooting for America. I'll be so proud of my small contribution. One vote, one voice amid a chorus of millions. Doing our best to preserve this amazing experiment started with some starry eyed dreamers who knew we could achieve greatness. Yes there are still injustices of monumental size, yes we often behave in such a shameful manner that we want to turn away and give up. But we don't. Because we are Americans and that still means a hell of a lot to me and to you and to the world.
Vote. It's a gift paid for with blood. Vote and then get to the business of supporting this country as a whole. After this election is decided, if your candidate doesn't win (and perhaps even if he/she does) find a small bit of light and focus on that. Work towards positive instead of wallowing in the filth this election cycle has created. Once again, take a small step forward and keep moving. I'm going to. I owe that to you, my fellow Americans. I'll do that for you. Can you do that for me?
A big thank you to the women working at Shear Madness for the kind, encouraging words you sent to me through my husband. Also thanks for cutting his hair, because he'd end up bald if I did it.
To you KP. Always the middle child voice of reason. Thank you for keeping my feet planted.
