Politics...Smolotics

I am going to write this post and then we'll see if I publish it.  I have been thinking about the presidential race for a while in the context of my life and don't understand what it is that makes folks hate each other because they think differently.  I can bet you that most of you who read this disagree with me on a whole lot of things...but does it make you hate me?

I am not rich, nor am I poor.  I have plenty to eat, more cars than drivers and have two kids in college.  I pay a boat load of taxes and I also pay a bunch for my kids to go to college.  They don't get any student loan help or Pell grants because we make too much money. My daughter didn't even get a scholarship for her performance in high school because we make too much money.

I know it sounds like I am complaining and maybe I am, but I don't expect anyone else to help my kids going to college...I will just work and we will pay what we owe.  It just is what it is.

I know rich folks and  poor folks.  I take care of them when they are ill.  I have been in homes that have no running water and no bathroom to speak of.  They are  poor and they live in the mountains of Colorado.  I have also taken care of some filthy rich folks...that money is no object and they have, what looks like, all the money in the world.  But you know what?  It didn't help them stay alive when the cancer won...maybe made it easier or maybe not.  I didn't take care of the poor one any differently than I did the rich one.  They were people who needed care and that was that.

What's the point, you ask?  Well, I have been reading about Obama and Romney...trying to figure out who I think will lead the country better.   I am trying to have an open mind and find facts about both of them but it's so difficult to find facts that are not clouded by opinion.  

I don't want anyone's  opinion on what they think I ought to think.  I'm sure they really don't want my opinion of what I think they ought to think either or they would have sent me an email and asked.  

So far, I am not happy with either of the candidates.  

I have to get a flu shot...have no choice this year and it is an edict from the government.  I haven't gotten one in 25 years as an RN but this year the choice has been taken away.  I know it's not a big deal but it still bothers me.  

I am all for equal rights for everyone but want to be able to go to church and call myself a christian without a people writing about how I am stupid.  But again, you and I can write about whatever we want and it is okay...sometimes hurtful, but we do live in a free country.  We all can say and write whatever we want.

I guess what bothers me the most is how things are changing.  I spent an afternoon with a friend who talked about how "stupid those republicans are" and another friend who talked about "how stupid the liberals are" and how it has changed their friendships.  Is this election worth a friendship?  Not for me...that's for sure.

I had dinner tonight with a new widow.   She lost her husband 2 months ago and I had the honor of helping her care for him at the end.  She and her husband did not agree politically at all.  He watched Fox news all the time.  She didn't.  It sounded like they were on different sides of the fence through the whole marriage.  She was sick of Fox news and his opinions on things, or so she thought.

When we were talking about him and his life, she mentioned that she would give anything to have Fox news on and him sitting in front of the TV spouting opinions...

It is going to be what it is.  I can tell you good things about both candidates that I think will be good.  I can also tell you things that I think will be bad.  I guess we all come from a different place with our opinions and will cast our vote.

May the best man win, the best man to lead to country out of wars, poverty and into a kinder world.  That's what I want.  As far as taxes and health care, thankfully, I have decent choices for care and I pay my taxes in the fashion that the IRS forms tell me to.

I just don't want to lose friendships...because those relationships mean more to me than who ever is our president.  Sorry...but it does and I will keep caring for my family, my patients, advocating for the folks that need it regardless of who is sitting in the White House.

That's all I can do...

We'll tawk tomorrow,
I love you all,
Terry