Waiting for a president

I’m sitting here waiting for the first wave of election results to be posted, and I’m pretty excited.  Not that I necessarily expect my candidate to win, but because we the people get to choose. The whole democratic process is pretty amazing, really.   

I heard someone say today that they’d be glad when the election is over, and I’ve said that a few times myself.

Someone replied that we should be glad we’re deciding the election civilly instead of with civil war.

We all know that, but for some reason, the truth of that statement penetrated a little deeper in my mind. 

There’s a lot of talk about a divided nation, and it’s true that politics is a hot topic.  However, I doubt there will be bloodshed and uprisings tonight, and we can all lie down and sleep in peace regardless of who wins the election.  

If our candidate doesn’t win, we can vote for change in four more years.  That’s not far away.  If our candidate wins, the world’s problems aren’t going to vanish like a puff of smoke. 

Whatever happens, there’s more reason to be optimistic than not, I’d say.  When it comes right down to it, the power of change rests more with the individual that with the government anyway.

Instead of grumbling or gloating about the election tomorrow, how about we look to see what we can do as individuals to help others?  How about we start by governing ourselves?