Friday, November 21, 2008
It's funny how an everyday image can evoke such tumultuous thought. The other day I went to set my change on the dresser and this very image caught my eye.
Our voting stickers.
Neither of us set them together like this. They just ended up that way. Initially, I thought how ironically this image represents Todd and I politically.
The yin and the yang to each other's politics.
To put it another way, Todd and I respectfully (at least usually) see absolutely nothing eye to eye when it comes to politics. With further stretch of the imagination, I see this image and representing the country's views at large.
This has been my first presidential election to actively take part in.
What an election to be a part of.
While it has been magical to witness history in the making, it has also been very challenging for me. What disconnect this election has brought about among Americans in general. I think this election specifically highlights the undeniable opposition the two parties have to one another. They have become scarily entrenched and immovable.
I fear for our county NOT because we have elected a rouge "socialist" leader who is going to ruin our country. I fear for this country because of the discrepancies between each other's views. I am sure I perhaps feel this more than some bc of my Utah-minority-political status, but still. It has shocked me to see the charge across voters. People have lost friends. People have lost family. People have lost faith...over the disagreements between the sides. I am dumbfounded and heartsick over this (I too have lost things).
I now find myself constantly going back to the philosophy that
one must doubt everything but doubt itself.
Truthfully, how can we, as voters, know that about half the country feels differently than oneself and still be so sure of our rightness?
I am happy with the outcome of the election. Still, I am now at this place where I have no clue what I believe in anymore. Half the world is thanking the Lord for delivering them out of bondage while the other half is praying to the Lord to protect them from the evilness that has just been unleashed. People are literally fearful of their lives here while others have just begun to feel peace that they have never felt before.
How can this be?
I guess I am saying in no linear form that I have a voting hangover. All the hype of the election, all the sensationalism and all the "I'm right your wrong" has left me with a bitter headache. I wonder if I should have even voted. It all seems very silly to me now. I was so impassioned by the election... and so sure of what i wanted. Now, I wonder if the whole election process is just a big fat waste of time. A rouge to let us Americans think we have things in control. An opportunity for us to puff out our chests and act as if we know, really know, how our country-perhaps the most complex macro organism in the world- should be ran.
Voter Disillusion
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