I voted this morning after dropping my girls off at school, and it felt fabulous to tangibly help this election cycle be over. The long slog of this combative race has worn me out, along with the entire nation. Like the yellowed leaves outside my window today, we have withered. You can see it on the faces of anyone who doesn’t love arguing for the sake of arguing; everyone is ready to move on. We, as a collection of Republicans and Democrats, Green Party members, Libertarians and independents now have to start the harder process of getting along. Ranting about them is easy. Getting along with all the thems is a much harder, and nobler, task.
A giant chunk of our population will be upset tomorrow. And a giant chunk will be happy, or at least relieved. Either way things fall, this is true. And we will all still be living in the same country, with the need to plow ahead. Wounds will need binding. Not gloating poured over them like salt.
A friend just emailed me with an election story. She got a text last night from a friend whose husband just announced he was voting, unexpectedly, for a certain candidate. Both my friend and the wife were appalled, and it caused my friend to question how on earth this could happen. They had discussed politics together and he never let on that he was even thinking this way. In pondering this she came to realize, just today, why he might vote the way he did. And while it didn’t bring agreement, it brought understanding on her part. Some empathy. And that, my friends on both sides of the aisle, is exactly what we need.
Tomorrow, we start over. Bind up some wounds with empathy.
To encourage us as we plow ahead into whatever tomorrow brings, here are some fine words someone else (the band Gungor) wrote that say what I’m saying in a more poetic, more memorable way. Let’s put this into practice in the coming days…
Give and take
Snow or sand it’s all the same from far away
You and me
We’re the stuff of stars
With eyes to see
I can’t meet you eye to eye
But I can take your hand in mine
We are better together
We are the ocean tide
The freedom and the anchor
When we’re together
We are better together
We are the day and night
Together we are stronger
We are stronger
We are better together
There is no real divide
The winter and the summer
We are stronger
All together
Every black life matters
Every woman matters
Every soldier matters
All the unborn matter
Every gay life matters
Fundamentalists matter
Here’s to life and all it’s branches
And here’s where you can hear the song…