My takeaways from the 2016 Presidential Election.
I believe that the 2016 election has been the worst in my
lifetime. It has caused me to reassess friendships
due to wide gulfs in beliefs that I didn’t know existed between many of my
longtime friends and me. I have had to
consider what acceptable behavior is and what I won’t tolerate. I have had arguments with people about vulgarity
and my “political correctness.”
I consider myself to be a Christian first, a family man
(husband and father next), a Proud American and then a Conservative. I have spent months considering the best way
to approach many of the things that are important to me. In no particular order I will address some of
them.
1.
A Woman’s
Right to choose. I believe strongly in a woman’s right to
choose. I just don’t believe that a
woman has the right to choose to end the life of an unborn child. There are numerous choices in the
overwhelming majority of cases. These
include the many forms of Birth Control and abstinence. Adoption is another choice available to
women. I understand fully the other
issues (rape, incest) that come into play and can’t offer any good opinion on
how to best deal with it. I am not
qualified to make that decision, but, I believe overwhelming scientific facts
prove that life begins at conception. I
will leave it to people far more intelligent than me to determine what happens
in those cases. In any instance, I will
not condemn anyone, regardless of their choice.
That will not make them listen to my opinion. A kind heart and warm, loving words has the
ability to persuade more people than angry protestations.
2.
Political Correctness. This will surprise those that know me best,
but, I am sick of hearing about an unnecessary amount of political
correctness. From what I can see, those that are up in arms
about political correctness are loud and angry.
I can be, and will continue to be, direct in my communications, but
there is no excuse for lack of politeness.
The Republican Party, that I have been a member of for many years, can
learn that a polite statement, made in a non-judgmental way has the ability to influence
far more people.
3.
Hope. It
seems to me that hope is all but lost by many of the people that should be the
most optimistic. Do we really need to “Make
America Great Again?” Are we not great
now? As we discuss the unfair playing
field, we need only to think of modern day business heroes like Steve Jobs,
Bill Gates, Mark Cuban, JayZ, and Warren Buffett. All of these legends started off with little
and through skill and hard work are well known millionaires or billionaires. Our leaders need to talk more about hard work,
skill, overcoming adversity, better education and more rather than rail about
inequality or a rigged system. My folks
were born and raised in the 1920 and 1930s, both losing their mothers at a
young age during the Great Depression.
Somehow, my Mom, Dad and Aunts and Uncles persevered. Some
of my cousins were born with birth defects or developed crippling childhood
disease, but, all are living the American Dream. My father and many like him worked 2 full
time jobs to provide for families.
Today, we think that the government, or someone, owes it to us not to
have to do that. We always had a roof
over our head, food to eat, nice clothes, cars that worked and a paid off home
by the time I was a teenager. We can all
live that life, but, sacrifices were made along the way. My Dad rarely attended a school event,
working 7 days and 70 hours each week.
He never lacked hope. I was never
bitter about him not being around. Our time
together was working on cars when maintenance needed to be done, painting the
house, planting the garden and helping other family members. There were no amusement parks and few other
social events but I loved my parents and enjoyed my life.
4.
Religion.
I am a proud Christian. If you
allow me, I will tell you my story and the impact Christ has made in my
life. I won’t until you ask me about
it. I believe in the sanctity of
marriage between a man and a woman. I loathe
divorce and what it does to a family. Having said that, I will live my life in a
way that will not allow anyone to see my views unless they ask. I embrace Freedom of Religion. Just because I don’t believe in someone else’s
God doesn’t mean that I should offend them.
Living life in a Christ Like manner will do more to influence non-believers
than any words. Just like I believe that you should have your
Freedom of Religion, I should have mine as well. Don’t restrain my beliefs to prevent you from
being offended. I will respect you in
the same way.
I am sure there is more, but, this is enough for now. The most important advice that I can give you
is to go vote tomorrow and regardless of the outcome, be grateful, loving and
kind.
