It is 7:00 a.m. here on the Pacific Coast. I have just had to digest the news of Bush’s re-election along with my breakfast. It’s not sitting very well.
I must admit that I am mightily disappointed. In my opinion, the better man did not win. Some people feel safer with a Bush administration. I feel less safe. Some people feel that Bush represents the moral high ground. I feel the opposite. Some people would rather wage war than pursuade diplomatically. Well, those people, apparently, outnumber people like me by about a three percent margin in this country. What can I do?
About two days before the election I got an e-mail from a dear friend of ours. (Let’s call her Mary). Before I tell you about the e-mail, let me tell you about Mary.
Mary is young enough to be our daughter, but her soul is old enough that we can learn important lessons from her. She was raised in the rural South and has been steeped in a tradition of conservative values. If you think that means you’ve got her figured out, you’re just plain wrong.
Mary has always felt she is a square peg in a round hole, in some ways. She seems to have what some people call “the gift” or “the second sight”. At this point, it has been more of a nuisance to her than anything. She is bothered by dreams that seem to portend the future or explain the past. She has not had many people with whom she can share these insights, living in an environment where ESP is pretty much synonymous with black magic. She is an independent thinker, yet she also deeply loves and respects her family, her roots, her traditions.
So we got this e-mail. Mary was weighing her feelings about the election, trying to sort out her decision. But she said something so wise – She said that no matter who was elected president, she would pray for them and support them every day. Reading that stopped me dead in my tracks.
I suddenly realized that I have had negative thoughts about the current administration since George W. began campaigning against Al Gore. Every day I have done the opposite of what Mary is talking about. I have been frustrated, angry, frightened, and as a result of those reactions, I have had vindictive thoughts. I have actually wished, in my heart of hearts, that the President would just go ahead and “slip on the banana peel”. I’ve imagined him impeached, impaired, ruled insane, and generally, “hoisted by his own petard”. (Then I imagined Cheney in the White House and rethought my position!). I wasn’t consciously praying for his defeat, but isn’t thought akin to prayer? (Come to think of it, an election is like one gigantic group of people praying for something, and one other gigantic group of people praying for something else, and the louder prayer gets answered).
So now I’m thinking about Mary’s e-mail. It is time for me to take a new position. I may not be able to support many of the President’s decisions, but I can support him as a human being and as President. I can pray for him to be endowed with wisdom, courage, compassion, and strength. (I saw him display some of those qualities, as I recall, on September 12, 2001, so I can imagine that prayer being answered). I can pray for his advisors to be enlightened. Most of all, I can pray for my own soul. If I can be all of those things I would wish for in a president, maybe that would help.
It’s kind of like when you’re single and you’re desperate, and you’re praying for someone wonderful to come along. You pray for someone who is strong (because you feel weak). You pray for someone who is kind (because you feel bitter). You pray for someone who is generous (because you feel empty). Finally, it came to me that it was up to me to be all those things. Like attracts like. When I figured that out, everything changed.
Isn’t it the same when we’re trolling for a president? So, if we want to manifest a president who embodies all of those wonderful qualities, then we had better start practicing those wonderful qualities today. And start by not cursing the current administration, who, after all, has a daunting task before them. And let’s face it – If they fail, we fail.
Sometimes when I watch Dr. Phil (I do – it’s one of my guilty pleasures) I hear him ask someone, “Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?”. (I think that’s the right quote – I might be paraphrasing). Anyway, it’s time for me to stop wanting to be right. I want to be happy.
Thank you, Mary.
1 Comment
Anonymous
I am so glad you feel that way about our President. I think he is great. He is exactly what we need in this trying times. He says what he means and means what he says.