How Will It End?

Will she win? Will he? These seem to be the questions on everyone’s mind leading up to the election. Lots of nail biting happening.

But what if it’s not a fair outcome, we ask? Oh, we can’t go there. But we do, and we wonder…will we unravel completely and end up pointing guns at each other, or will we continue to muddle along pretending America is still that shining city on the hill?

However the vote goes down (unfairly, illegally, or forthrightly, depending on whose opinion you favor), would the outcome even matter if a loved one is killed in the process of voting?

With some nostalgia, I remember when our two-party system boiled down to a milk-toast face-off between conservative and progressive values. But today it’s more like the 1989 dark film, “The War Of The Roses” on steroids.

I realized this when my otherwise sane friend proudly announced she emailed Mitch McConnell and wished him to burn in hell. Although her momentary moral outrage seemed justified, casting a hateful spell on him was not going to move the needle forward.

It’s hard to ignore our political reality, but it’s likely even harder to ignore our accompanying new spiritual normal. Whether we’re a voter or legislator, we’re all in the grips of a human spiritual battle that keeps us in a perpetual state of exasperation, fear, and dismay—especially toward those who think differently or express widely different opinions. Across the political spectrum, we’re all thinking the same thing about the other: THEIR views are dangerous. And this gets us going. For some, disgust gets triggered. Then hate. And it’s not healthy.

There are calmer ways to instigate positive political change. For instance, instead of trolling, Liz Nace, 81, from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, goes out every day and posts handwritten, supportive sticky notes in stores and restaurant bathrooms encouraging women to vote. This is her “atonement for voting for Trump in 2016.”

For many of us, the challenge of responding to fear comes down to our best instincts being pitted against our worst. But, we can choose our best self with the same mindset we choose our next President. We choose what’s best for us, not what harms us.

Hate binds us to darker thoughts and plays havoc on our spiritual intentions. They diminish the light within us, no matter how right we may think we are. Hateful thoughts are counter-cultural and drive us to the extremes of vengeance. They have the power to rewire our brain and pull us off our spiritual axis. Given enough time and energy, such thoughts can wreck our health and corrode our spirit beyond salvation.

My wish is for all Americans to be mindful of their thoughts, especially those which include “I hate…” (Biden, Trump, gays, immigrants, Jews, BLM, wokeism, transgenders, Democrats, Republicans, fascists). These phrases are like drugs that may give you a boost after ingesting but are doing invisible damage internally. They must be culled out to enjoy some peace of mind once more.

So what else should we do to get back to our center?

It’s pretty simple. Replace hate with any of these empowering phrases instead—or write them on sticky notes and share them during your next shopping trip:

I love truth
I love justice
I love my freedoms
I love our democracy
I love our constitution
I love my neighbor