The best people....

In the middle of this political season, a month before the always pivotal elections upon which our country runs, I found myself in conversation with my father.  He tends to be a bit more conservative than I, or I tend to be more liberally-minded than him - take your pick.  That doesn't really matter for the moment.  What matters was something that he said:  "These are the best two we could come up with?"

It dawned on me then:  No, these are not the best people.  No, these are not the people who should represent us to the world.  No, these are not the best choices available.  But then, here's the kicker:  They never really have been.  George Washington is often credited with saying something to the effect of "The only person worthy of having power is the one who doesn't want it," and maybe it's true that he said it (in this age of wiki-this and wiki-that, frankly, it's a wonder any research can be done at all.)  Maybe it's even true that he didn't want the job of POTUS.  I wasn't there, I didn't get to ask him.  But was he the best person?  Nope.  He was simply the person who stood up and said, "I will do this thing."

But I am hit with one inescapable fact:  I am 39 years old, born in this country, and therefore, able to run for election in this season, and I am sitting comfortably on the sidelines, watching it all happen.  Much like war - and I will take a moment to offer a simple "Thanks" to all those who volunteer to be in our armed forces - I have not volunteered to take part.  I did not stand up and say, "I will do this thing."  Nope, not me.  So two people - neither of whom I care for in the least - have done so in my stead.  They have volunteered to take this yoke of leadership upon themselves.  Meanwhile, I get to sit on the sidelines and criticize them for every little thing they do.  All because they said "yes."

Shame on me.

I don't get to do that.  Not anymore.  Much like I don't get to criticize a soldier who volunteered to go to the desert, or the jungle, or the tundra, I don't get to criticize them because I wasn't willing to do the same thing.

So, to those reading, I ask one thing: Stop the vitriol.  Stop the hating against Candidate X or Candidate Y.  Stop the arguing.  Stop the anger.  Stop the shouting from the rooftops.  Stop the ugliness that has become this election.  Talk, but more importantly, listen to one another.  Hear the heartache that is going on in many segments of our society, and do what you can to ease it.

We have the candidates we have because the best people, the people we wish would step up and lead us have not.  Because WE have not stood up to be those best people, we must deal with who we have been given to choose from.  Should we be angry?  Yes, but not at the candidates, and not at their supporters.  We should be angry at ourselves.  There is dignity at standing up when others refuse to do so.  There is an inherent nobility to the action of volunteering for the position.  Even if we really don't care for a candidate - or either of them - it is disgraceful to this country and to ourselves to spend time and energy tearing  down the people who said "yes" when we refused to do so.