Walking Up The Side of the Mountain

[jakebe]

Owl then spoke up and asked, "What is the essential point of the Eightfold Path?"
Brown Bear said, "It goes around and around."
Owl drew back his head and exclaimed, "Really? I thought it was a linear path. And I've always thought there should be a ninth step -- that Right Realization should come after Right Zazen."
Brown Bear said, "Right Views come after Right Zazen."
Owl said, "Then where does Right Realization come in?"
Brown Bear said, "Right Views! Right Views!"
Owl said, "What are Right Views?"
Brown Bear said, "We're in it together, and we don't have much time."

-Zen Master Raven, Robert Aitken

Today is it; this is the big one. A lot of people have been encouraged, cajoled and harrassed today about voting -- voting for a specific person (or perhaps more appropriately, *against* a certain person), voting for whoever they want (as long as it isn't Nader), or just voting to work out those flabby and weak democratic muscles. I'm not going to add to the din of people making sure that the democratic process is upheld today. Everyone knows what to do; I'm not going to be able to persuade anyone else to do or not do whatever they've made up in their heads.

I would instead like to talk about what happens *after* this. It seems that no matter who wins in today's elections, half the country won't want him. I've only been alive for a relatively short 24 years, but I have never seen the country this divided over the direction it's supposed to go, and it's an interesting and frightening thing to see. I already know where I stand on this great cultural divide, and I'm sure that a lot of other people do, too. Where we stand on the issues isn't the point at this point; I think we need to be preparing ourselves for what comes afterward.

There has been a terrible amount of mud-slinging and character attacks by both major candidates in this campaign, and the nasty, vitrolic feeling has spread from them to their supporters. Conservatives and liberals have gotten especially good at villifying each other in this election cycle, and I've personally seen friendships been strained and broken because either party belongs to 'different sides'. This year we've taken the concept of 'red vs. blue' to a whole new level, and it's made it very difficult for any actual issue to be discussed over the rhetoric espoused by both sides.

The vote is going to be too close to call in a lot of states, and no matter who wins I have a strong feeling the result will be contested for weeks and perhaps months to come. There'll be plenty *more* opportunity for mud-slinging and character assassination. This doesn't necessarily mean that we have to play along at this point.

Try as you would to imagine otherwise, the 'other side' is not a bunch of brainwashed zombies or disrespectful, whining idiots. The fellow with the "W" sticker on the back of his car is not necessarily an asshole who doesn't care about the rest of the world. The fellow with the "Kerry-Edwards" sticker isn't an unAmerican traitor more interested in pushing some pinko commie liberal agenda than protecting himself. And after today, the person who voted for the 'other guy' isn't a loser or a problem or sickness in America. He's a guy, just like you, who used the voice we're all given as citizens of this country to stand up for what we believe in. Like it or not, we're all in this together, whether the President is a Democrat or Republican.

The best way, ultimately, to be American, is not to push your views onto other people (and though we may deny this, liberals are just as bad as conservatives about this), but simply to realize that we're made up of all different kinds of views, and it *takes* all kinds to uphold the spirit in which this country was created. Even if there's passionate disagreement, the 'other side' is just as worthy as respect as we are. It's a basic human right. Everyone's created equal; somewhere along the way we've forgotten that, and nowhere has it become more obvious than this election right here.

Tonight will be very important, but even more important than the outcome of this election is how we handle fellow countrymen on the other side of the divide. Do we continue to blame them for any downward trend this country is experiencing? Do we continue to speak of them in astonished bewilderment, unable to understand how someone could be so dense when 'the truth' is all laid out so clearly? Do we continue to mock and one-up when elderly people can't pay for their medicine, while people lose their jobs overseas, while Social Security runs out, while our troops are trapped in two countries where they're strained and underappreciated? No matter who wins tonight, let's get down to the business of fixing our country. The desire to make where we live a better place transcends party lines, and even though half of us will be disappointed we can at least be united in helping to lift our poor, our troops, our elderly out of the mess they're in.

This is America, and we still have our personal happiness in our own hands. No matter who does what, there are still basic things in each and every individual that can't be taken unless we give it willingly. Our compassion and empathy are the two most important.

Good luck, everyone. :)