By
the time you read this, the
election will be over and
hopefully the winner will
have been declared.
Or at least this is the way
it should be.
However in today’s media
driven world, who can
predict what is going to
happen or might happen in
the next few weeks? All of
us are suffering from
election fatigue as a result
of the past year of
campaigning by both parties.
I can’t think of any other
country in the world that
has such a long period of
time allocated to the
determination of who will
lead us over the next four
years. I suspect that if you
are at all like me, you are
numbed and partially brain
dead from all of the
statistics, poll numbers and
blah, blah, blah we have
been subjected to for the
past several months.
Everywhere you look, you see
signs of election
zombies…citizens walking
around aimlessly with dark
circles under their eyes
from too few hours of sleep.
Neighbors have turned
against one another as we
headed into the home
stretch. We are reduced to
discussing topics as bizarre
as “are there really UFO’s”
and “who really discovered
America” to avoid political
arguments with our friends,
family and spouses.
Last week, we went to dinner
with our next-door
neighbors. We are on
different sides of this
political war. We set the
ground rules prior to
leaving the house. Not
politics. As I stated before
this leaves you with very
little to talk about over
the course of a long meal.
Not that we were desperate,
but about half way through
the dinner, somehow we got
off on trying to remember
the words to “The Twelve
Days of Christmas.” We got
stuck on the fourth day…what
was it? No one could
remember this one…”On the
fourth day of Christmas…. my
true love gave to me”
….What? . We all had items
one, two and three and some
of the others, but for the
life of us couldn’t get item
number four.
We did maids milking, swans
swimming, lords leaping,
drummers drumming and five
gold rings, but no item
number four for the life of
us. The wait staff became
curious and asked us to
explain. We did and soon all
the waiters and waitresses
along with the cooks were
either signing or humming
the same tune trying to
figure out what happened on
day four. Our meal was being
constantly interrupted with
suggestions, all to no
avail.
Finally I called a friend of
mine who is a trivia buff
and he quickly questioned
how could we have forgotten
that there were…”four
calling birds”? End of the
mystery. Then he asked if we
could remember the names of
the seven dwarfs. This was
enough to get us through the
rest of the meal. I think we
got most of them correct,
but am still uncertain that
Sleazy and Sneaky were part
of the original group.
This is America at it’s
best. We should all get down
on our knees and thank God
we live in a country that
allows us to have the
freedom to vote, the freedom
to speak our own minds and
the freedom to state our
opinions. The current
elections show we are almost
equally divided in our
thinking. This isn’t a bad
thing in my mind. It is a
mechanism that should help
to keep us honest and to
know that someone out there
is always watching what
those in power are doing on
a daily basis. Or those who
want to be in power.
We as a nation are
relatively young by history
standards, but we have shown
the world that we can agree
to disagree and still be one
nation after all is said and
done. This has not always
been the case in other
countries of the world. In
fact in the early days of
our nation it was widely
suspected that the incoming
party would assassinate the
members of the outgoing
party. As we know this has
rarely happened. Perhaps
never.
Well, now we can get back to
the business at hand and
look forward to four more
years of listening to the
pundits share their views
with us on how smart they
were or how misled they
were. Thank God for Sponge
Bob…he has yet to make any
political comments.
I wonder if my neighbors
even know who Sponge Bob is?
