“And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Matthew-25-40/
This wasn’t an election of discussing and expressing opportunities to improve. It was an election of discussing and expressing frustrations.
My guts have been hurting since the primaries ended, and we had two poor options before us. That’s in contrast to the 2 Obama elections when any of Obama, McCain, or Romney would likely have done a good job.
In my mind, Obama did a pretty good job serving both his party and our nation. He was certainly respectful, especially evident when contrasted with Trump.
The Obama debate videos of his elections are such a breath of fresh air to watch right now, on the heels of voting in this terrible election of frustration.
The campaign dynamic of the 2008 and 2012 elections featured opportunities for healthy policy discussion and dramatically improved cordiality. Both sides deserve credit for those years.
We are very divided. More so than ever before in my lifetime. This 2020 year itself isn’t helping.
Let me explain more in detail why this is the election of frustration. I am sure you feel that way. Nearly everyone does.
Those who are voting for Trump are wanting to improve America by selecting the lesser of two evils by throwing a wrench into the system with someone who is going to rattle things up. They are frustrated at the system, and they accept an old, vicious, nasty leader as a means to an end.
Those who are voting for Biden are wanting to improve America by selecting the lesser of two evils by tossing out a terrible leader unfit to be in the most esteemed and important position in all the land. They are frustrated by the last 4 years of a vicious, nasty leader, and they accept an old, forgetful, sometimes creepy establishment leader as a means to an end.
Those who leave that line blank on the ballot are wanting to improve America by saying, “Hrmph, bah-humbug, America’s two parties both need to do a better job coming together with more reasonable candidates.” Peggy Noonan said she did that in her WSJ column. They are frustrated by both leaders, and they accept a forfeit of being counted on by either party.
In each of these cases, the key is to understand that every single camp represents a LOVING desire to improve things, and a reasonable solution to the problem, from the perspective of their camp. After all, humans aren’t that much different from one another as we sometimes forget in the cacophony of opposing ideologies.
Those who do not vote on anything at all are not exercising their rights, probably because they don’t realize that a bunch of stuff is on the ballot that matters, not just the Office of the President. Or they just don’t care.
Humans are overwhelmingly loving, in my experience. The number of good, loving people very much, if not totally, overwhelm the number of bad people. Bad people are punching way above their weight, in my opinion, and that is the real fight.
If you can’t be classified into one of those categories accurately, I’d love to hear why not in the comments.
I see evidence of the Yin and Yang philosophy all over the place these days. Every person and every organization of people has both good parts and bad parts. Every. Single. One.
I’m not an expert on Yin and Yang philosophy. I just know the basics. Here are some links where you realize how more involved the philosophy is than you might think (this and this, for example). This analysis by the Archimedes Lab Project is really cool.
A lot of things are more involved than we think. That’s been true with every lesson I have learned in life. I doubt it will ever end, in this life or the next. Continual learning is real.
I understand the Yin and Yang symbol represents both division and balance. Binary colors symmetrically shaped.
Can you spot the difference in those two symbols? The left symbol is the actual symbol. The right symbol maybe should be the symbol, but it is not. I modified the left symbol to produce the right symbol with Microsoft Paint.
The balanced part of the actual symbol is surrounded by a black circle, which is all held together in a white background. I find meaning in that slight difference.
Perhaps when things become balanced, you can push through, with a little work, to a beautiful background. In my mind, you gotta consider the background of the image to be good and “desirable to make one happy.” Backgrounds go on to infinity, and perhaps beyond because we don’t even know what we don’t know.
Of course, you could flip white and black entirely like this.
Same exact concept applies. Who cares if things are white or black? Not me. I do, however, want to exist in a sphere that is “desirable to make <me> happy“; and, I am guessing, you do too.
“And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy, ” 1 Nephi 8:12.
You have a lot of liberty to decide what you want to put into one side and what you want to put in the other side. It’s a life full of choices you are living. But God can also throw in nature, accident, and consequence wherever deemed eternally important for you. And that necessarily includes everyone you’re connected to.
Speaking of the Book of Mormon…
For any Ex-Mormons out there, I had a sweet little insight recently of how Lehi’s vision could be extended out to a celestial sphere. It involves thinking about where golden plates (of a different geometry) could possibly be found in the vision and thinking about what should be done to solve all the problems of that vision? I’ll write about that to you all soon. (BTW, all members and former members are Ex-Mormons, if ya think about it.)
The quote at the top of this post applies. Jesus invites us to take care of one another. To think about each other’s needs and perspectives. To love.
But all religions themselves, including all Christian religions, even my corner of Christianity in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, all have tensions between members and former members. So much tension in all of that. Perhaps more tension than even in politics.
It’s the way everyone is raised versus the way everyone wants to actually live, in its own Yin and Yang analogy wanting to receive the “righteous desires of their heart.”
I’m pretty liberal in what I imagine the righteous desires of heart entail. I think it could be anything that you want, that doesn’t hurt yourself or anyone else. You can’t hurt God unless you hurt yourself or someone else. That makes sense to me.
An example that combines both church and state is the debate around abortion.
Pro-choice advocates women’s rights. It’s a belief that no one should tell a woman what to do with her body. No one else can possibly know fully what the woman feels about the pregnancy. There are no words that can adequately express that.
Pro-life advocates the rights of the child, as distinct from the woman herself, when the child has no words. It is clear to me that late term abortions are horrific. How could you possibly want to abort a baby that could live on its own were it merely removed from the womb today? No way woman.
Things will become even more murky as science and technology discoveries potentially enable making a baby, from conception to unaided life, outside of the woman. The ethical grounds of the claims above are shifting through discovery.
Maybe someday God will solve that problem himself to the whole world. Until then, we must battle it out at the ballot box.
Responsible choices are enabled more and more today by one of the top two inventions of the last century: reliable birth control.
Lyrics are here.
Here comes the bride Something old Here comes the bride Something new Here comes the bride Something borrowed And something blue
The lyrics of that song bring this whole post together for me.
The right answer to many problems is to follow God. In my case, it is to follow the prophet. When you read the quote at the top of this post, what do you see?
I see the Yin and Yang symbol.
I see division and balance. If we hurt each other, we are hurting God. If we help each other, we are helping God. That’s pretty straightforward. We should not hurt each other and we should follow God.
Who is God? You decide, but know this, I’m guessing an accurate decision is pretty important.
I love you. Do whatever you want. Just don’t hurt anyone else, or I might intervene.
And please don’t hurt yourself, that hurts me too. Much love.
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