Election Day

The polls are open

People are lined up

Expectant and fearful

I have already voted.  You have to love a state that votes by mail 

Yay! Oregon

But on this day I find I am more than a little pensive

I wish I knew which Romney was the real one

I wish Obama wasn't using drones

I wish the arrogance of wealth hadn't kept Romney from putting forth his tax returns

I wish Obama had changed the culture in Washington DC instead of being gobbled up by it

I wish the economy were better

I wish our country wasn't so divided

I wish

And yet there is some value in this pensiveness

In it lies some valuable lessons

One person isn't going to change our country

its all too big

too profound

We judge the person we are against by our fears

And the person we like by our hopes

and in both cases

that person will fall short

We only succeed as a country

When in humility we realize there is good and bad

on both ends of the spectrum

When we stop demonizing each other

When we stop feeding fear, and start nourishing hope

When we stop grasping and start giving

When we stop hating, and start looking at one another with the eyes of compassion

When we stop hurting and start helping

When we pull together

And realize we are all in this together

Oh, one more thing

To me it also reminds me that we must 

As a nation be more spiritual

not religious, there is more than enough of that

but spiritual

In touch with the sacred

In touch with the God in us

But also aware of the God in that person

Who votes differently from us

Who is poor, and yes, is trying to be responsible for his or her own life

But is battered by illness and poverty

Who is struggling with mental illness

Who is disabled

 

We need God

We need each other!

 

___________________________________________________________________

 

Don't surrender your loneliness (or fear) so quickly

Let it cut more deep

Let it ferment and season you as few human

or even divine ingredients can

something missing in my heart tonight has

made my eyes so soft, my voice so tender

my need of God, absolutely clear

                                   Hafiz