On Voting (and smelling nice)

(Warning: Highly unedited material, because time. More on that later.)

I know I haven’t blogged in a while… and yes, I realize I kind of left the most recent chapter of my story untold. So right after my last post, the school year started. I teach second grade. I have 24 seven year-olds under my care Monday through Friday. I'm also in grad school. What can I say? I’m doing my best over here. Sorry to disappoint, but this isn’t the final installment of my story either. I know, I’m sorry. I do, however, think I will find myself with more time to devote to it very soon. I realized something tonight. Below is the stream of consciousness I had immediately prior to and following this realization.

Boy, am I so glad the election season will be over tomorrow. I didn’t use to loathe it like I do today. I’m only in my early-thirties so I’ve only been of voting age for four of them, but even just three elections ago, when Bush was running for his second term against Kerry, I don’t remember being this bummed out about the process. I was excited about my candidate and felt he was up to the job and best for the job. I was also excited about voting and never minded the occasional friendly debate with friends from other parties. Fast forward twelve years, just twelve, and the amount of pure discord that is stirred up within the human race by the presidential election is enough to break my heart into tiny pieces. What gives? I’m not 100% sure, but I have a theory...

Twelve years ago was also the year Facebook was born. I think we can all agree that nothing has been the same since, in how we communicate as a society. Communication to the other side of the globe is instantaneous now. We can share our thoughts (and feelings) with every single friend and family member we know and at the exact same time with just one click of the mouse. We are getting better at having a strong and thriving relationship with our devices and forgetting the precious skill of how to tend and nurture a relationship with a human. Or more importantly, a relationship with God. So many of us, not unlike myself, are losing the ability to look people in the eye. We are losing the willingness to initiate contact because our schedules are just too busy. We are so busy. I am so busy.

I really need to talk to someone…

Oh hey, Facebook.

A quick scroll of the touchscreen and I’ve felt talked-to. Just enough to take the edge off. Then I’m back to my to-do list: lesson plans, grad school, bookkeeping for the business… Most days, I’ll never make it to the bottom of it. You know, the part of the To-Do List that includes cleaning my house and spending time with other people? Or God? Lord, forgive me for placing you so far down my to-do list lately. If I’ve an unusual surplus of time, I’ll maybe spend an hour or two with David and maybe scrub my toilets.

Grrrr…go away Facebook.

I’ve become addicted to productivity and your social quick-fixes are only throwing fuel on the fire of my obsession with my to-do list. I’m afraid I’m not alone in this.

This election cycle has made me realize something has to change. For me anyway. I know there is always a pattern with the media during election season. All of the worst dirt on each candidate (some of which I’m sure is made up or twisted) is blasted in the news (and now on social media, thanks HuffPost) for us to get all bent out of shape over. It works too. Every election, a large portion of our population as a nation gets super fired up and bent out of shape over their aversions to one or both candidates, personally. Personally. How can we take anything personally, you guys, unless we have actually met the person? How many of us have really met either candidate? Spent time with them? Seen them as real people? Doing real people things? How many of us have had a sneak peek behind their closed doors? When their mics are off? Not many of us. Instead, we are choosing to engorge ourselves on the propaganda, that because of Apple and dear ole’ Facebook, is in our faces nearly 24/7. We binge. We don’t give ourselves time to digest. So then we purge. We look for the next moving target, then we aim and fire. Spewing up propaganda vomit all over our closest friends, family members, colleagues. We do this all behind the false security of a computer screen, or smaller yet, the screen of our iPhones.  Because of this, we all have chips on our shoulders or walls around our hearts, or both. The media loves to stir it all up during elections. They report every bad thing and make up worse things. At this point, who is to know which candidate has the most integrity or good character? I know I’ve heard enough about both of them to think very, very little about them both. Even if only half the stuff I’ve heard about either candidate is true, we’ve allowed ourselves to be in quite the mess of a situation with one of them about to become our next president. But they are people. So are we. Tomorrow I will vote for the person whose policies are most in-line with my own beliefs on public policy. Tonight, I will pray for them both.

And one more thing:

We all, as people, were designed to be the most important things on each other’s to-do lists. Connecting with each other is what we were made for. Not checking off items on to-do lists. (Well, I was kind of made for my to-do list, but also connection.) Connection first. I must always remember that. Always, always. So tonight, I started a fast. No more Facebook for 90 days. Not until after the holidays. February 5^th, to be exact. That’s my goal. I’m asking David to hold me accountable. If I fall off the wagon, I have to restart my counter. No more synthetic connection. I’m clearing out and making room for the real deal—a deeper and more meaningful connection with God and my tribe of humans. This is my fast. The holiday season is a perfect time, as it includes a lot of opportunities for time with family and friends. I’m hoping this jump starts a permanent change in my heart. One that values voices over text, faces over screens, hugs over emojies.

No matter who wins the election tomorrow, our tribe of people is what matters most. Don’t let differing opinions and propaganda vomit divide you. Vomit stinks. So tomorrow, let’s all go vote for the candidate we think will lead our nation in the direction it needs to go for the next four years and then go home and wash off the vomit. But go vote. We must continue practicing this wonderful freedom, because the alternative is a scary one. Please go vote. And then go home and make yourself into someone who other people want to spend lots of time with. That’s what I’m hoping this fast from social media will begin to do in me. This is my final post until February. (Not many of you will even notice because I mostly only creep on this thing anyway.)

If you want to chat, CALL ME. Please reserve texts for scheduling phone calls and time together. Yes, I think it’s best if you call. If I don’t call you first.