Happy election day

Imagine a dark and stormy night, the rain is pouring down in an unrelenting blinding sheet, you’re straining at the wheel trying to pierce through the thick downpour, your headlights’ trying uselessly to make sense of what’s in front. Suddenly something darts in front of your car, and you tug violently at the wheel, everything slows, a moment frozen in time and you realize that you’ve tugged too hard, the road is too slippery, the shadow you imagined disappears like a wisp. You are about to lose control. How did you get here?

It is the morning of the big day, and our land rests uneasy, like that moment frozen in time our country is teetering on the edge of chaos.
Our usual sense-making headlights; the media including the newest addition of the internet which are supposed to illuminate the road ahead seem useless and confusing. We are at the 11th hour, and it seems like we are about to lose control. How did we get here?

I must admit that as a relatively recent arrival in this fine country, I would not blame your for taking my two cents with a grain of sand. Shucks, I take my two cents with a grain of sand. But, having said that, I am inclined to tell you that from where I’m looking most, if not all of the good citizens of this country basically share the exact same concerns;

As far as I can tell, half the country is concerned that the other half is going to cheat in today’s presidential elections, and/or use force in an unprecedented attempt to refuse to accept the election results when they lose.

It also seems (as far as I can tell) that the other half of the country is also similarly concerned that the 1st half of the country is going to cheat in the today’s presidential elections, and/or use force in an unprecedented attempt to refuse to accept the election results when they lose.

So unless I’m mistaken (feel free to correct me, I’m new here) Basically everybody’s on the same page.. (more or less)

Now it’s true that we’re on different teams, and that we all share a common affinity to winning, but aren’t we all playing basically the same game?

I mean, sure your side might lose, and that sucks. I get it, but isn’t there another championship in 4 years?

Ultimately, we need two teams (At least), because, if we only have one team, well we can’t really play, can we now?

Now it’s true that the team captains this year seem perhaps a bit much compared to previous years. I get it. This one captain, the new guy, who’s kind of an old time player seems a few screws short of the full set, and perhaps just a bit more corrupt than us simple mortals like me and you might be comfortable with, and yes it does seem to many that his dream team is just a bit too far off in left field. And on the flipside, undoubtedly this other captain, the old one, who’s kind of a new player in this game, has an ego that’s maybe a few sizes too large for simple mortals like me and you, and maybe we all kinda wish he’d just chill with playing at being a songbird, or a Pitbull and just focus on playing the damn game.

I get it.

But ultimately, I don’t live up in Olympus DC. I live down here in the audience stands with all them other mortals. I figure if you’re reading this, you’re probably living down here with the rest of us, and you’re probably pretty mortal too.

And I’ll tell you one thing, most people down here in the stands. The people simply cheering for the one team or the other. Most of you are pretty decent.

Sure, we don’t always agree on everything, no one ever does (Have you ever been married?), But we agree on the big things, though it might be hard to notice sometimes from up close.

Back home we had some neighbors who every once in while felt if their daughter or sister was dating the wrong guy, well then maybe she was just better off six feet under. And I’m yet to meet the person over here in the USA, standing in the stands, cheering for team red or cheering for team blue who would feel that there’s any sort of place for that kind of thing.

And my mom, she came from a place where she never met her maternal grandfather, cause he died in a concentration camp, to which he was sent because he was found guilty of working for a company that dared offer its services to private customers, rather than sticking to providing their services only to the government approved ones. I’m yet to meet anyone in the USA, cheering for team blue, or cheering for team who would feel that that there’s any sort of place for that kind of thing.

We all might grumble, and jeer at the other team during the game, make faces and shout, but ultimately in the end of the day, we agree that it’s a good idea that we’re playing it. That every 4 years we get to have a championship all over again, and to spend the time together to elect a new, temporary champion.

That kind of thinking is pretty unique. It used to be no one thought that way. And now most of the western world pretty much agree about it.

Sure argue about the little things, like how much fish we should handing out to folk, or maybe we’re better off focusing on fishing rods, and just how much rules and regulations we need in place to make sure the fishing rods people use are safe and proper, but we all basically agree, that everyone should have a fair shake at eating some fish at the end of the day.

And it’s true that we used to feel that our headlights, the media used to do a better job at shining a clear path forward, but I’m not entirely sure that was ever perfectly precise. Sure, we trusted them more, and believing you know what’s ahead of you feels good. But was our trust ever well placed? 80 years ago they kind of missed the holocaust, and 90 years ago they kind of missed how the communists were busily starving to death millions with their fancy new plans.

Those are two major strikes. It seems to me that media always projected its own picture onto the fog ahead rather than pierced a shining light through it. Mayhaps, it is not such a bad thing that our trust in it’s veracity is wavering. Maybe it’s just time we got better at thinking for ourselves and properly looking into a thing right before we buy into it, hook line and sinker.

And finally, there is the issue of our speed. Life used to move at a glacial pace, to such an extent that Paul Revere hurried through the night on a bloody horse, with the urgent news that the British are coming, and the news still got there in time. It seems apparent that they didn’t have twitter just yet, and life was somewhat more leisurely back then. The speed with which information travels these days, and for that matter the speed with which we jet around the globe from one end to another is nothing short of fantastic, and naturally when you’re careening down the road of life at such speeds, sharp turns might just end you in a ditch.

I think most of us like the new means of communication. It’s kind of nice to be able to pick up a small shiny rectangle and magically reach out to loved ones back in the old world, or to hop on to facebook from the comfort of my toilet seat to see what my friends and acquaintances are up to, but I suspect that it might be time to start putting up some road signs and nailing down some reasonable traffic and safety regulations.

Even with such a mundane thing as a car, we had to start thinking about some traffic rules when driving became ubiquitous, and somehow most of us today agree that a seatbelt is a good idea. it seems that it might be time to give some due thought to who can and who can’t control what on the interwebs, and maybe it’s time to have a conversation about some proper reasonable guidelines as to just how much of our mildly hysterical attention do we think it’s reasonable that we let the twitters of the world steal.

Maybe, it’s good that this has come up, and maybe all the drama has more to do with the world moving forward and the need for us to take stock and address this properly, than with the end of the world being upon us, though who the hell knows right? Maybe the Mayans were generally speaking, kind of right after all..

In short, I like my American neighbors. I like my American friends, whatever lawn signs they might have put up. I still feel that meeting up for beers and a BBQ is a great way to spend the weekend.

Sure, we’re at the final minutes of the game, and we’re all cheering our team, but when all that noise is all over I think most of us would like to just get on with life.

If you’re driving just a bit too fast, on a slippery road, with a blinding torrent of rain pouring down your windshield and you’ve just yanked the wheel, just a wee bit too hard, then what you want to do is carefully ease off the acceleration and gently steer towards safety, wild attempts at hitting the breaks or wild jerks to the steering wheel will likely end up with you losing control of the car.

We’ve been driving too fast for sure, and if I’m any judge the last 6 months were the definition of a wild jerk of the steering wheel, and we’re now hovering in a moment stuck fast in time, our vehicle about to lose control. But that’s ok, all we have to do is breathe in, let our foot off the gas pedal and steer towards safety. And the issue is not who gets elected. It’s how we treat each other, our neighbors, our friends, our family, whomever they all vote today in the ballot box we’re all traveling in the same car.

We’ve been driving along for 244 years. I for one would like to hit a quarter millennium. I figure most Americans are on the same page, I feel like being part of something that’s lasted to such a pleasantly august birthday is a majestic enough feat to be worthy of celebration.

I have only recently arrived on these shores, and I have been struck by just how kind, friendly and understanding, most Americans are. Americans of all shapes, of all colors of all kinds, recently arrived, and old timers, however them might fancy connecting to god, or not.

The general commonality shared by the vast majority of the people I’ve met here is friendliness and goodwill towards all.

It’s been a rough year for, sure. And it’s natural to be on edge, but in the end of the day, this is the same old tradition we have been celebrating for a pretty long time.

I suspect that whichever candidate gets elected, the sun will still rise come November 4th, or whenever we actually know who won, and that in another 4 years we will be called upon to rise once more to the occasion and choose the next glutton for punishment who’s crazy enough to wish for such a thankless Job.

Till then, I’m looking forward for a BBQ with my neighbors and friends, whomever they voted for, and I wish you all a very happy election day, and here’s for many more to come.

Dedicated to my dear family, ever divided across political lines, never across the dinner table.