You don’t need to know I consider myself to be an Independent and that I am not a fan of Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton.
We don’t need to spend large amounts of time parsing the many meanings of what they said and whether they meant it.
Why?
Because I question if most people will read it with an open mind and whether the polarization has made it possible for open and honest discussion.
What I want you to read and to hear is that I question the promises that are made and ask what the plan is to bring said plans from idea into reality.
I hope you hold our leaders accountable and demand they do more than posture and that you do it at all levels of government.
I watched Donald Trump’s speech and thought about what he was saying and wondered what Hillary would respond with.
I didn’t disagree with all that he said but I wondered if he hoped his words would scare me. I wondered if his strategy was to strike fear into the hearts of voters.
Whenever I have been in a position of leadership my goal has been to have people follow a vision and act in certain ways because it was good for all of us.
As a father I want my children to respect me and do as I ask because it is the right thing to do.
The point here is I am not a big fan of using fear of the stick or the whip as a tool to motivate people.
Those few of you who know me well will recognize I find that approach to be particularly irksome and that it is generally a good way to encourage me to do the opposite but that is really neither here nor there.
Divisible With Liberty & Justice For Some
The line is supposed to be indivisible, with liberty and justice for all but the news makes it clear not everyone believes it to be true.
What I find myself mulling over and thinking about is focused less upon whether that is true or not and more about whether we are all playing for the same team.
Are we all working for the common good of the citizenry?
If we are and have differing philosophies on how to improve our collective lives that is different from saying it is every man for himself.
I don’t need everyone to agree with me to feel ok about my choices or yours for that matter but I feel better when I think we are all rowing in the same direction.
The thing is I am skeptical about that.
You can add a bunch of other things to the list of what I am skeptical about and blame that upon a lack of faith in leadership.
But you can also say I believe we’ll find our way through the current mess and that part it is predicated upon trust in a system of checks and balances.
Add in a dash of hope that we’ll have good people in place at multiple levels to help manage things and Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride is off.
And back we go to the world of choices and decisions that impact the few who make up my world we go.
There will come a time when the kids ask me about this moment and I’ll ask them what they remember.
Maybe they’ll remember boxes of stuff being shipped off to donate or steriods taken for crazy rashes.
Perhaps they’ll see it as having been particularly hard or particularly easy, I can’t say for certain.
What I hope is one day when they have a deeper understanding and appreciation for certain elements they’ll ask me why I didn’t freak out.
And I’ll ask them what purpose that would serve and say this moment reminds me of times I have been kayaking and or canoeing down rivers.
I see the rapids coming and I can choose to ride them out or to give up because there is no going back.
There aren’t any leaks, we’re wearing life jackets and their old man is still a very strong swimmer.
Might not be able to swim as I did when I was on the team but I don’t have to win any sprints any more.
Nor do I care about looking pretty. It is about enjoying the moment and buckling in for the ride that is about to start because sometimes we are lucky enough to recognize the moments when the ordinary becomes extraordinary.
