From Election Day to Veteran's Day

Twenty-four hours before Election Day Sally the cat came home. Her protracted absence weighed heavy on my heart and tested my belief in things hoped for but not seen. Maggie, my eight year old, never once faltered in her belief that Sally would be OK; she would come home. I learn something new about faith and life and love everyday from her. Sally’s disappearance and the sadness I felt for her loss seemed to heighten and even embody the emotions I had about the up coming election. In those four weeks she was absent amid the constant barrage of election mania, my feelings ranged from fear and sadness, resignation and disbelief to hope and excitement. I enjoyed a lot of emails and discussion from people on both sides of the debate even though many of the comments confounded me. While I still don’t understand how someone over 40 with any connection to the private sector could cast a vote for a person with a long list of shady associations and whose ideology compared to the previous 230 some years of American history is radically socialist, the unquestioning support for him forced me to seek understanding in a deep way. I stopped trying to be understood and got viscerally engaged in making sense of what others saw, heard, and felt.

Sally’s silhouette in the window Monday morning caused us to cheer and me to cry as I rocked her in my arms and felt so thankful that God had answered yet another simple prayer. Hope had returned, and I spent half of the next day working at the polls and watching a record number turn out to peacefully cast their vote one way or the other. Some confided in me that this was in fact the first time they had ever voted in their lives. Apathy is not a word in the lexicon describing this election. Despite knowing in my gut the outcome that evening before anything official began to appear, I felt a peace. I sensed that this is how it is meant to be for better or worse. I sat down the burden that required me to make sense of the motives, the thought processes, and even the contempt in some cases. Of course that peace has not remained steady but random wise people and events have shown up to reassure me over and over.

Today, on Veteran’s Day, it was the words of a young soldier twice returned now from Iraq and the eerie sound of Taps played without accompaniment on a trumpet beside a small but honorable veteran’s memorial that did it for me. I felt OK again and being there affirmed my resolve. I have resolved, despite my reservations about this new administration with promises to do things ranging from the impossible to the absurd in my mind, to not be bitter or resentful. I will not stand by wishing for their failure as so many did over the last four years. I will not speak disparaging words about our new President at home or abroad. I will not coddle those that do. I will pray for him each day just like I have for the current President. I will respect the will of the popular and electoral vote. I will continue to volunteer in civic activities. I will fight for a recovery of the America I have enjoyed since birth in hope that my kid and others get the same privilege. I will no longer assume someone else is responsible for making my community or country a great place. For this awakening, I am grateful for what happened this election season.