Decision Time

One week from today the elections will be over.  I don't know about you but I'm ready to move on from the three ring circus that our elections have become. Our country's politics are usually not a place for the thin-skinned, but this election cycle has gone beyond the pale.  The fear, rancor, tension and anxiety that has been stirred up in our country is frightening and sad.

In the meantime there are decisions to be made and the American people will decide just as we have done hundreds of times in local and national elections. We will choose, for whatever reasons, the people we think will be our best leaders. However, the thing that seems to have been lost in our election process is the wider perspective of the common good. Too many of us vote according to what's best for me rather than what's best for everybody - and not just today but tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

I voted over two weeks ago by mail-in ballot and will spend parts of the next few days encouraging others to vote.  So that's what I'm doing here. If you haven't already voted, please do so!  And when you do, please take time to forget the polls, the TV ads, the internet memes, and talking heads of cable news.  All of these have vested interested in keep things stirred up as long as possible. Take time to consider the people you vote for, and whether they have the best common interests of our communities and nation at heart.

In the end, next week it will be decided, and the decision is ours to make. Whatever the outcomes are, may the day after elections be the first day of a journey toward healing in our lives and our country.