Message Sent. Received?

This is not going to be a post about rehashing the election.  Quite frankly, I'm glad the whole thing is over.  And I would ask that if you want to comment, that you don't rehash it either.  I have friends on both sides of the aisle and I'm not looking to challenge, offend, or anything else to anyone.  And my focus for this is on the popular vote, not the electoral college.   My thoughts on the electoral college are for another post on another day.

Here's what I do want to say. 

Yesterday a message was sent.  Sent to whomever ultimately won the election  -  incumbant or challenger.  Unlike in some past elections, this was not a "landslide victory". 

Yes, one side won.

But when you really look at the numbers of people that turned out and how close the margins were in many of the states you have to take step back and look at the bigger picture.  It shouldn't be about winning or losing.  It should be about listening.

Roughly half of the population in these United States of America were sending the message that they were disappointed in the performance of the last four years.  And frankly, that goes to the entire Administration.  They are disappointed in a Congress that couldn't even work together long enough to pass a budget.  In the State of Mississippi, if a County or Municipality starts work on Day One of the new fiscal year without having adopted a budget under which to work they are in violation of State Law. 

Plain and simple.

They were disappointed in the inability to get some things done because we've become so partisan that it seems as if no one thinks for themselves anymore.  Each side reads from the script they've been handed and that's it. 

Robots could do that.

I don't want to hear about Hope and Change.  I was to see Cooperation and Results.  I don't want to hear about what you couldn't do but tell me, collectively, what you will do. 

Again, this has nothing to do with who won the election.  No matter what happened yesterday, HALF of this country was disappointed.

Half.

That is a whole lotta folks that need to be made happy.  And it was going to be that way no matter what.  Mr. Obama won and will have to figure out how to compromise with the folks that want things different.  If Mr. Romney had won, he would have to plan a way to make changes without losing the folks that wanted things to stay the same.

Ultimately, we are all citizens and we're all in this together.  Win, lose or draw.

Looking back does nothing to move us forward. 

I've said it here before, but voting is such a privilege.  And one that shouldn't be taken lightly.  It was such a big deal in our home when I was growing up.  Going to the polls was a family affair.  I can remember the excitement of going into the polling booth, pushing the levers next the names that whichever parent I was with pointed to, and that real sense of power in pulling back that big red handle that opened the curtain and cast the ballot.

I felt that same power on Tuesday, only it is electronic now.  I touched the squares next to the names I chose and then the big, green Cast Ballot button that made my voice heard.

This is a tough time in our country.  It isn't the first and I know it won't be the last.  But in the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln, borrowed from the Holy Bible, "A house divided against itself cannot stand."  His words were spoken in a different time about a different subject, but the tenet remains true.  If this country is divided half in two, then we will not only not progress, but actually regress.

Lincoln went on to say "I do not expect the Union to be dissolved - I do not expect the house to fall - but I do expect it will cease to be divided."

We would do well to listen.  That doesn't mean one side must give in to the other without question.  I'm not naive enough to believe that half the country would just up and change their minds about how they feel.  It means that we must find a way to come together and meet on common ground.  There has to be some, somewhere.

We have to understand the true meaning of compromise.

Because we are a divided house.  The election proved that.  And without effort from both sides we will fall.  Our Founding Fathers hundreds of years ago understood this.  They didn't all agree on how to achieve their ultimate goal, but the goal was the same.  Independence.  Freedom from England.  A cause for which they would live, and die.

We don't have such major issues as freedom and slavery at stake right now, and thankfully so, but we do have significant differences that need to be addressed.

The citizens sent a strong message on November 6.  I just hope it was received.

Character Counts

I think I've touched on this before, but I'm really bothered by this.

Webster's Dictionary defines character as the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of some person or thing; moral or ethical quality.

I saw it defined on a poster once as "what you do when no one is watching".

What I seem to be seeing more and more is a lack of character.

Look at Arnold Schwarzenegger. Married 25 years to a lovely lady only to finally confess to not only an affair but to fathering a child in that affair.  Confessed when confronted.

Take Bobby Petrino, former head coach of the Arkansas Razorback football team.  Caught out with a young lady after a motorcycle accident, lied about it, and then lied about compensation and other issues related to her when that story started to unravel.

Politicians are "tweeting" nude photos of themselves to women.

I was raised with one Golden Rule - always be on your best behavior because you never know who is watching.

And Mom and Dad meant it.

And since my sister is my mother's mini-me, it was serious.

I never wanted to do anything to disappoint either of them.  Still don't.  And I know my dad is watching from up above so nothing is going unnoticed.

What I guess people don't always think through are the unintended consequences of their actions.  In the case of Bobby Petrino, his actions forced the Arkansas Athletic Director to make an extremely difficult decision.  When AD Jeff Long held his press conference to announce Petrino's dismissal, he had tears in his eyes and was very emotional.  And I supported his decision wholeheartedly. At that point, the Razorback team themselves were ranked preseason number 8, but fell quickly after the first few games - the Shock in Little Rock when UL-Monroe beat them in overtime and the the 52-0 shellacking by Alabama - when they didn't have their regular coach and the replacement coach had only had a few months.

I was floored, and saddened, by the number of my friends that started calling for Bobby's reinstatement at that point.

First of all, irrespective of the money it generates for the school, it is a game.  Him being the head coach was not a life and death position.  But it was more important to a lot of people to have a liar as the head coach if it meant winning a football game.

Winning was more prized than character.

Now I know Coach Petrino didn't intend for that downward spiral to happen, but often our actions have far reaching and unexpected results.  He let down those young men that had looked up to and mentored under him.  They were broken.  They weren't a team at that moment, they were a group of individuals on the field looking for guidance.

I can't imagine the humiliation that public figures, like Maria Shriver, have to endure when someone in their family publicly allows their character to take a vacation.  We see it everyday on the news.  And sometimes they just continue to do things in out in the open - like writing books about their exploits.

Lack of character just morphs into bad behavior.

I think, for me at least, part of the problem is that these lapses in judgement get inappropriately glorified.  We hear the stories on 67 of the 121 channels on television and see it splashed across the covers of tabloid magazines.  Persons of true character, after such lapses, should quietly and privately work to repair the damage they caused.  Not pile on with more and more bad decisions.

Everything we do is noticed by someone, somewhere.  No matter how hard to we may try to keep something quiet or behind the scenes. Why don't we see the "good stuff" on the cover of People Magazine? They have sections on the inside of Heroes Among US and stories about real people doing good things in their communities. Instead, we get the latest celebrity unwed mother, or divorce, or cheating scandal.

We place too much attention on the wrong stuff.

How to change it?  I have no idea.  We can't, realistically, turn off the television.  We don't have to buy magazines, I suppose, but if we don't we will miss the positive stories hidden inside the covers.

All we can do is live by example, and hope someone is watching.