THE SOUL OF AMERICA; It's in Our Hands Now
We have a critical election on November 3td. We're not just voting for who will become president for the next four years, and which members of Congress will be elected, but more importantly, we're voting for the soul of America. What does that mean? For me it has to do with the values we embrace and practice as people and as a nation. Voting for the soul of America means restoring our sense of dignity and civility. It means working to find common ground so that we can continue to inhabit a healthy planet. The Pledge of Allegiance talks about "liberty and justice for all." We must work for that and make it real.
We must vote. We must vote for those people who will embody the values and practices that make us the best we can be.
Here is the letter I am writing via VoteForward.org to registered voters who are considered "unlikely to vote." What I add to the given text is in italic.
"I’m writing to you today to urge you to vote and to share my story with you. I vote in every election because voting is my chance to stand up for our democracy, and to have a say about what direction I want our country to go in. Not voting says I’m OK with how things are.
"There’s a critically important election coming up on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2020.
"Will you please join me as a voter?
"I’m not asking you to support specific candidates, only to vote, so our representatives are accountable to us all.
"Thank you!
Sincerely, Virginia"
Closing advice which I've taken to heart to stay a little less stressed and anxious during this time of upheaval and disorder is drawn in part from a newsletter published weekdays by Robert Hubbell. (You can subscribe to Hubbell's "Today's Edition Newsletter" here.)
Be aware of "an impulse to collapse everything that might happen in the next months into a ball of worry that preoccupies and overwhelms our thoughts today. We can’t do that, or we will be paralyzed with fear and doubt." He notes how news anchors pile "speculation upon possibility upon remote contingencies until it sounds like the sky is falling."
"Please, people, we need to get a grip on reality and stop fantasizing about nonsensical outcomes that are designed to fill airtime or illuminate pixels on a computer screen. (Voter suppression is a different and urgent threat that we must combat now.)
"Let’s take the next days one day at a time, one task at a time. That’s all we can do; put aside counterproductive worry and get to work!"
Mental discipline is required. As Hubbell says, "Focus on maintaining our drive and positivity."
[Illustration is of The Cave of the Hands, Cueva de las Manos, in Argentina.]
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