Election 2020: History is Watching
Someday, each and every one of us is going to be asked what the hell happened in 2020… and if I’m being frank, I don’t think we are going to come out looking so good.
This last year has seen a near-perfect storm of nationwide protests over racially motivated police killings and racial inequality, riots, a global pandemic (responsible for 800 American deaths per day and rising,) massive unemployment, and widespread economic distress… and those are just the ‘big ones.’
Individually we are growing more and more stressed, isolated, and missing our loved ones — some of which aren’t coming back. Many of us have jobs that have disappeared, businesses that have closed. Our children’s education and social development are being disrupted… I could go on.
I’m here to say we can’t blame all of that a president — in a way, it’s actually on all of us.
Growing up in Fargo, ND, I have seen what people can accomplish when we come together. During the floods of ’97, ’09, ’11, and so many more, I saw our communities stand up. Tens of thousands of sandbaggers springing to action to help people we’d never met… and while we lost a lot, in a way we all came out stronger for it.
My point is, even when tragedy strikes, disaster can be avoided. In fact, wonderful things can come out of tragedy — but only if we come together.. and that is where we, as a country, are failing.
I truly believe this is the REAL reason we are struggling so much this year.
We’ve had SO MANY opportunities to come together and make bad situations better — but seems ‘politics’ has gotten in the way of that.
We have failed each other.
The tragedies we are seeing in 2020 aren’t the sort of things mere policy would have been able to fix. Policy can’t fix them. A policy can be a bandaid but it can’t FIX dysfunction — and that is what I feel we are dealing with here.
To quote Lincoln, “A house divided against itself, cannot stand.”
We are growing more divided by the day and the house is crumbling before our eyes.
This Tuesday, I sincerely hope everyone reading this takes the opportunity to vote.
Yes — everyone. It’s important.
I won't tell you who you should vote for, but I do ask that you keep these important concepts in mind as you go to fill in those little circles on your ballot:
- There are those who seek to benefit from the growing rift in our country, and others who are trying to heal it.
- There are those that would represent our nation, and everyone in it, with integrity, humility, and dignity, and there are others who would not.
- There are those who act as if their job is to serve only those who voted for them, and there are others who seek to serve ALL of their constituents.
We need to remember that these things matter.
The best of these traits are the sort of things that embody what it means to be Americans.
The worst of these will break us down and tear us even further apart.
In the end, these are the decisions to which we will someday need to answer— to our children, our grandchildren, and to generations to come.
For better or for worse…
history is watching.
