Forty-Three Days

We are now forty-three days from November fifth and the vote that could change the world, forever, via change for inclusion or change to reverting to some past perceived normalcy. I get that this statement is exactly what most Americans are feeling, but seemingly so many are wanting change and are willing to risk our future on someone so drastic that we might never recover because that change represents going backwards to a life that was only better for white America. There are drastic differences in the candidates, I’m not talking the drastic difference in people, no, the difference of good and evil, right and wrong, morality and blazen disregard. It saddens me to know that every aspect of who we are is boiling down to who we would vote for. Is it that simple? I don’t think so, but so many people can’t see beyond a word. What’s the word? Well, it’s actually two words, Republican or Democrat. Wouldn’t it be nice to believe that it really is that simple? Yet, we all know it isn’t. MAGA doesn’t represent the Republican party anymore than New Green Deal represents the Democrat party. As much as many of us feel I have to vote Republican or Democrat because my parents affiliation, or even a stupid statement such as I’m a Christian and there is only party that represents the church. As if one side is anti-Christ and the other is angelic by doctrine.  In forty-three days, we are really voting for morality, common good, ensuring all have rights are recognized, and as a veteran I’m voting to make sure this country still represents what I served to protect. Forty-three days to believe in this country or believe in a man.

Why are so many people easily swayed to believe in information spoon-fed to them? I have written about this before as this isn’t the first time this country has been put to the test on the great experiment democracy is. It is fragile to say the least. When democracy was developed in this country, we were really on the verge of a new way of doing business. We were establishing something to create freedom from a dictatorship of a country reigned by one person. A person who established all forms of belief and insisted on fidelity or be banished. A new government that was run be the people and not the government. I think every time we have gotten to this test for this country, it is when the government has grown to rule instead of being a steward of the peoples strongest wishes regardless of a parties so-called doctrine. Several times it has caused fragmentation of parties and formation under a new name and purpose. Many times, in this country, the evilness of man as become the forefront of belief. Heck, we even had a civil war because there was half of this country, that for some reason, invented religious backing that doesn’t exist to belittle and believe that people of color should be subservient because of something in the bible talking about why people are of color in the first place. I revert back to my thoughts that the bible is flawed by nature because it is not a book written by Christ or God, it is a book written by men that supposedly were inspired by their own personal experience with God or Christ. I always go back to the thought of show me where it tells man to persecute others. It doesn’t and it has never been more than a crutch on opinion to somehow justify one’s persecution of man or ideology. Like abortion, there is nothing in the bible that speaks to this health issue. Don’t all of us have to face our maker and either be allowed into heaven or hell? Yet, man has decided that we need to decide the outcome of people for making decisions that are unsettling to others. How many laws of man are created out of a misrepresentation of the bible? Why must we swear on a bible when we are expected to tell the truth? Isn’t this only effective for Christians that blindly follow others interpretations of the book? How many religions are in the world, many preceding Christianity, so why do we believe it will ensure truth?

The biggest problem with this country is we have lost our ability to question and then rationalize. We are a lazy country that would rather find a news source that supports our ideas and then allow that source to gradually develop our mind into what it wants us to believe. We have become puppets and we are dancing in place with the government in control of the strings, and we have lost our scissors on reality and the notion that we have free will to cut those strings. If you believe in the bible and the words written, then you should also know that the real judgement would come upon death. But people are growingly more resolved to allow mans judgment to be the rule and not wait for our final judgment day. Of course, there are laws that are needed to protect and maybe that is what some believe they are doing for a fetus and the belief that if it has a heartbeat that it is more than just some non-specific entity. Like too many things, man tends to oversimplify to support a single thought, but really something like abortion is a multi-layer problem that we have never been able to figure out a proper rule. The government wants to control this situation and not listen to the majority. Over seventy percent of Americans believe in choice and has been shown over and over again by vote in numerous states. What is it that really drives Americans these days? Is it fear? A fear of change or a fear for being less in control of our own thought. Fear drives us all for many aspects and certainly more than simply governmental issues. We fear relevancy and the loss of it as much as we fear seeing ourselves anywhere other than at the top of the food chain. White America is probably the most fearful group in the world. We constantly are on the verge of loss of something in our life. Why don’t we just understand that things really should be for the people. It never says anything about it only being for white America and although this country is still predominantly white, white America is a creation realized by displacing Indigenous Americans and Mexican Americans from long owned lands by these groups. We have crushed these people and then brought the most marginalized group, being black, to America to serve our laziness in life and strength in control of all.

Times are changing though, and it seems that what we might be experiencing in this country is a battle to either change our viewpoints or fight for the ease of what we think we know. In forty-three days, we get to decide if we want to support change or support a continuation of reverting this country back to a time when whites ruled with a stronger hold on America. For me, although there are some aspects of my life, I’d like to see stay the same, I’m willing to recognize that I’m no better than anyone else. I find myself fighting more for those that want to tell me how wrong I am instead of recognizing how much I have changed over my life. I’m human and when you tell me I’m wrong for my something not even consequential, I still will put walls up and resist you. It makes me think back to telling people if they just took care of their own thoughts and actions that they’d have their hands full and certainly shouldn’t have time to focus on me unjustly with a blind eye to my growth of my belief and purpose. Americans have to grow, but we have to allow all to grow at their own pace and not someone else’s. This has happened to me at least three times in the last week. It’s a challenge to me and somehow, I will still move forward hoping for change at a pace we can handle and not hope that people change in an instant to make the millennials or various race feel better. Forty-three days from now I will vote for a direction and not a solution. Frankly, I don’t believe that possibility exists in my lifetime, but I do believe in my life, America can become more just in time with little steps. I vote for a better America, not a millennial viewpoint challenge to their parents thing, thinking they have the solution without the reality of human nature. In forty-three days, we can have hope or continued fear of difference. Be careful how we proceed and stop telling people how wrong they are and try to understand where people come from and know how to baby step people to the future of change. In forty-three days, vote for an ideological notion that we still can be better in our selves and by being better individually, we can be better as a nation and as a society. And for goodness sake, stop judging others. Realize you are no different and you are just doing the best you can, just like those that came before you and I hope you don’t have to live with others knowing they have a better hold on right and wrong than you do. Vote for hope! Vote for betterment! More importantly, be better through your hope.