I have been registered to vote since right before I turned eighteen years old. I remember in high school some people came to our school and if you were going to be eighteen by a certain time, you got to register early, and then you could vote come the next election...once you were eighteen anyway. I jumped right on that. I'm a pretty opinionated person, especially back when I was younger. I was very very vocal about my opinions and didn't really care who I hurt in the process, if I had an opinion I was unfiltered and I was going to say it and the consequences and feelings of others be damned. That's just the way I was.
Of course as most very young adults....I had sooo many opinions and OF COURSE they were all right, and everyone else was wrong.
Thank GOD I grew up. I realized my opinions are NOT the only ones that matter. I'm not always right. Sometimes, very often in fact, I am wrong.
I learned to open my eyes and see both sides of a situation, to be a little more open minded. That it's still ok to have strong morals and values, but at the same time I can't judge someone and persecute them because they aren't living like me. That's not what God would want me to do. God wants me to show love and kindness to everyone. You do not have to agree with someone or like the way they live to show them kindness and love. You can be a decent human being and not agree with everyone. Hate, has never been the answer. Hate, comes from fear, and FEAR is not from God. Hate is not from God. I don't want to live in hate.
I have watched this election pretty closely. I along with so many other Americans (and many from other countries as well!!) Have often shook my head in disbelief over one candidate or the other going "are they for real?" I've tossed and turned at night weighing my options trying to decide who I could bring myself to vote for. It is NOT a decision that I took lightly, not at all. During all that time I've listened to others who have had a clear chosen victor the entire time. A candidate that they WHOLE HEARTEDLY supported. I was happy for them. I never thought they were stupid. I never thought less of them for supporting who they supported. It's a very personal thing to support a candidate. YOUR life experiences affect who you support. Your family and their situations, your religion, your day to day activities, your job, your 'place' in life, all have an affect on who you are going to support. SO much is at stake. We get FOUR years of whoever we vote into office. That's four years of our future we don't know what's going to happen but we hope we've made the best choice we can.
I heard that there was a HUGE voter turn out this year, and that's great! I'm glad so many people got out there and did what they could to MAKE THEIR VOICE BE HEARD.
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This was me waiting in line at my polling place. I got some odd looks
for taking a selfie in line,but eh, that's ok. I was wearing this
facial expression for so many reasons.
1. Because HELLO I was on my way to vote...and was super stressed about it.
2. I had just gotten news the lab screwed up my sons
VERY important lab work and I had to hurry to get my kid
from school so he could re do his labs,
so yeh...was NOT a happy human at this point.
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I worked yesterday and didn't get off work until two. In that time I saw many people come in displaying their "I VOTED" sticker. Many people....did not look happy. They looked confused, and concerned and like they were in a dream state, not sure if they did the "right" thing for their country. Many people were just plain unhappy. There were some, that came in all smiles and "GET OUT THERE AND VOTE!" you could tell THEY were certain for who they had voted for, they were HAPPY with their vote. They weren't conflicted. So many WERE conflicted though. This is something that weighs heavily on their shoulders, and I am with those who feel that way.
It wasn't a surprise or a shock to too many people that I disliked BOTH candidates. I mean here and there they both had things that I stood for and I was like YES I agree with them on that one, but I agree with this one on that point. I couldn't just back one or the other, I just, couldn't.
Many will say I "wasted" my vote because I voted third party. That's ok, that's your opinion. I however, do NOT feel like I "wasted" my vote. Call me one of the "dumb ones" or whatever. Call me uneducated or stupid, that's fine. You don't know what goes on in my head or how much thought I put into this, how I literally CRIED over this election, and how much I have prayed. The many conversations my husband and I have had over this election. How we have done our best to share the election with our children but to keep it open so THEY can choose their own opinions and not feed off the opinions of their parents. BUT we also still wanted them to know where their mom and dad stood on so many issues and why we felt the way we did.
My kids are young guys. I'm talking the boys are 7 and my daughter is 9. My daughter could have cared less about the election she was kind of off in lala land doing her own thing. Ask her who is running for President and she gives you a blank stare and says "huh?" Not that she hasn't been told, not that we haven't discussed it with her, it just frankly didn't interest her in the slightest. She would actually leave the table and say she was bored and would go play. Politics, do not interest her. Not right now. She's nine. She wants to be a child. Now WORLD events bother her a lot more. Politics...she ignores. She cares not for this worlds politics. She does care however, about humanitarian issues. (Which I've tried to explain to her how the two tie in to each other, but she doesn't care). To her...right is right and wrong is wrong, and we should help those who are hurting and in need. No one should be left behind. She leaves in a very ideal little world apparently. Where everything is equal and fair. She's still young. She's still learning. She will learn as she grows how the world is, regardless of how we want it to be. I DO hope she grows up to do great things, to HELP others. I want her dreams to be made real. I WANT her to help those in need, and to give out of kindness and love.
My sons, are much more realistic, and they are very insightful for seven years old. I can actually have some pretty good conversations with them regarding politics and the like. We have to work on backing up their opinions with facts, and not getting up set when someone disagrees with us, but they are getting there and I'm pretty impressed with them. One of my sons literally sobbed this morning when he found out who our new President was. He was devastated. He has watched the debates, he has seen the news. He finds Trump to be an angry person. The first time he saw Trump on TV he had no idea who it was and he asked me "Who is that angry man and why does he seem to hate everyone??" That was his first reaction to Trump. NO ONE had told him anything. He came to that conclusion upon listening to the words coming out of the mans mouth. That is when we started explaining things to him, and from that point...my son wanted nothing to do with "the angry man". My other son, he liked Clinton, because well it would be kind of cool to have a girl president because "we haven't had one in a really long time" as my son put it. I explained we have NEVER had a female President, BUT that doesn't mean she's the one we should vote on and put in the office. NOT simply because she would make history. We have to look at what lies BEHIND the woman. What does she stand for? What has she done? Do you think you can trust her? He liked her because she always seemed to stay calm, and she seemed smart, unlike the "angry guy" (Who my kids called Donald Duck, because well they are 7 and names are not their strong point, hahaha which I always laughed and said it was kind of fitting. You couldn't understand much of what the man said and he was prone to tantrums...sooo likening him to Donald Duck was priceless). But I didn't let my kids know that, I just grinned and went on.
I got off work yesterday after spending my whole nearly 10 hour shift cracking political jokes, and trying to make people SMILE again. Saying they needed to hand out Vodka at the voting booths (one when you check in, have one at your voting booth, and one when you drop off your ballot and leave). Three shots oughta do it, right? I joked around about apologizing to everyone who came in with an "I Voted" sticker on. "Hey I noticed you voted, I'm so sorry!" Boss said that might not be a good idea. I squeezed a few of those lines in anyway (with customers I knew well).
Heavy burden we all bore yesterday. Heavy.
I went in to my voting poll hoping the line would not be too long as I had heard earlier in the day the lines were crazy. I ended up waiting in line probably close to 45min give or take. I got my voting done, and cast my ballot. It was hard to let that paper go into that machine. I didn't want to...but I didn't know what else to do. I did what I could do. The rest...was in God's hands.
After I voted I went about my day, doing some things I needed to take care of. Later I settled down and started watching the votes come in. I felt my anxiety rising, my stomach churning. I didn't want either candidate in office, yet I knew it would be ONE of them I just didn't know which one. I drank a beer, I cracked a few more jokes. I watched the news channels and Facebook. I was saddened by so much hate that I read. The people's comments I was reading, so sad. So much hate.
I ended up going to bed around 10:30. I just couldn't stay up any longer. I had to rip my eyes off the train wreck that is America's future. This morning I woke up and unfortunately before I even got out of bed I checked the news....I'm not going to lie. I cried. I cried when I saw who the President was.
Not happy tears. And to be fair I would have cried no matter which one was voted in.
The thing that scares me....is the HATE. Trump I feel is backed by a lot of hate. He didn't CAUSE the hate, the hate was already there, just people had been keeping it in check for years. Now it feels like so much of that hate has been released. I feel like, Trump let's people feel like it's ok to hate, like it's ok to judge and be mean to others. They hear what he says, and the crazy off the wall way he does and says things and it makes NO sense. YET, people follow him, because deep down...they feel that same way. It's not money or power that makes you feel that way. Sure, Trump has money and he has power...but I would say the biggest majority of us in this country do not. We are not all rich. We are not all in powerful positions. People from ALL KINDS of backgrounds have supported Trump. I get that not EVERYONE who supports Trump is full of hate, quite the contrary. Many are NOT. Many are the most thoughtful kind people you could meet. They voted Trump because they did NOT believe in what Clinton stood for. They couldn't stand an office with Clinton in and felt Trump was the only way to go. I totally understand that, I do. As I said, many of Trumps points I agreed with too (But Clinton had many I agreed with as well but neither one of them WOW'd me enough to win my vote).
Currently, I am trying to keep an open mind. Not all Trump supporters are full of hate. Not all Clinton supporters are poor losers. Emotions are just REALLY REALLY high right now. This whole election has been a VERY strong emotionally packed one!
As I explained to my children this morning. "You guys play sports, you understand that sports is like a race. Both TEAMS work as hard as they can, they give it their all to try and win. However, we all know there is side that ends up losing. One team is usually stronger than the other at some point and that team wins. What do you do at the end of every sports game? What do Coaches teach their players from a SUPER young age? Even though you LOSE, you shake hands with the other team and say GOOD GAME. You don't get angry, and yell, and shout and throw things and threaten people. THAT is being a sore loser. You congratulate the other team, the winning side. You USE THAT LOSS to fuel you for next time. You USE IT to make you work harder, to get better so NEXT time you are in that race...you will be better, stronger, and your chances of winning are even better, and you might just be the winner the next time." Use it as a humbling moment. Not a moment to be angry and lash out. That's the easy way out.
My kids were all a little disappointed this morning (well cept maybe my daughter who I'm not even sure really even cared?? She just changed the subject to "Hey what's for breakfast??") The girl thinks with her stomach I swear.
I told my children, be kind. To everyone you meet. You don't know what their story is, what goes on in their life. YOUR smile YOUR kindness might be the ONLY kindness they see that day. YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE by just being KIND. Spread love, not hate. (Yes yes we are hippies in this house).
I told them that you will likely hear adults talking about the election results, you may hear ANGRY adults (or even angry kids fueled by what they have heard their parents say at home). You may see sad people, scared people. Those are all VERY really emotions right now. It's OK to feel those things, our heads are reeling from this insane election ride. I know I asked to get off this election ride more than once the past few months!
Guys, our kids are the future. THEY are who we are fighting for. What kind of legacy do we want to leave them? One filled with hate? Do we want to spread more hate? Hate gets us NO WHERE have you not seen the hate in other countries and see what it has done? If Trump is our President, so be it. The polls showed he's the winner, so he's the winner. I congratulate Trump on his win, and I pray for the best for him while he's in office. Like I do for EVERY President we have had since I was old enough to realize what a President was. I want to protect my children. I want to teach them to live in their community, to live on this earth with everyone here. We share the same planet. No one particular race or religion "owns" the Earth. We are lucky to HAVE this planet and to be ON it. Start acting like it. Take care of your planet, take care of your neighbor, take care of the stranger. Spread your JOY not your hate. If laughter is contagious, shouldn't we be spreading that like wild fire? Spread love and joy and happiness. That gets us a lot further than hate, and pain and sadness and uncertainty.
We got this America. There is no turning back now. Besides, one President cannot do it all alone. There are checks and balances in place to make sure that ONE person does not have too much power, and from what I have seen the other governing bodies are pretty well sat up so that Trump won't have too much power and he's really going to have to work for what he wants to do. So that helps me feel a little better. Our country wasn't totally off it's rocker when it voted yesterday. They were thinking a little.
I get why they didn't want Hillary. I get that they REALLY did not have a lot of options. I'm honestly not sure how it came down to be between Trump and Hillary, but that's what we ended up with, and frankly this is now what we have to live with for the next four years. We got this. We can get through this TOGETHER just like we have every single presidency. Remember 9/11? That is the biggest most horrible thing that has happened in my 32 years of life. It will always stay with me. THAT brought our country together. We had such a sense of patriotism. We were all one. MOURNING the loss of lives, and trying to wrap our brains around what just happened. We can still be that way. We can still come together and try to wrap our brains around what's going on. That unity is STILL THERE we just need to work on repairing the damage that has been done. Love goes a long way to fix that damage.
Trump, did not cause the hate. He may have stirred the pot, but that hate was already there, and it has been there for a very long time. It wasn't just hate from his supporters either, there is hate on both sides, and it's that hate that is ugly.
I don't have much in this world. I don't own my own home, heck I don't even own my own car, I share a car with my mother in law. The things I DO have in this world are my children and my husband, my Mother and my sister, they are there for me in this world. They are the people I love so incredibly much. They are people that I love and pray for and worry about on an every day basis.
I don't have the answers for the countries problems. I don't know what the next four years will hold. I know that my daughter will have just turned 13 during the next Presidential election, and my sons will be eleven and a half. I have know idea what will happen in that four years. At the moment? My family is worried about Circus Son #2. He had cancer as a newborn, Neuroblastoma. A week or so ago he complained of abdominal pain (and he also almost broke his toe during our Halloween Party too) and so we took him to his pediatrician for a check up, because well you can never be too sure!! Once you've had a sick child...everything worries you. The pediatrician listened to my concerns and my son under went an X Ray to his abdomen, and his toe (no broken bones in the toe, yay!) the X Ray showed constipation, but even with that I'm still concerned. They also did urine labs. They showed blood in his urine. That's not a normal thing guys. So they sent the urine off for further testing at another lab. They did cultures which came back negative. Which is both good and scary, because if they are both negative....why does my son have blood in his urine?
The THIRD test got "lost" and the test was never done, so when I kept calling the doctors office they had NO CLUE what I was talking about. Finally the local lab called me and fessed up to the mix up (found all of this out yesterday as soon as I got off work, ya know...right before I went to vote...) I may or may not have kind of given the lab an earful, twas not a happy mama. I take the health of my kids VERY seriously especially when ONE of them has fought a disease that could VERY MUCH KILL HIM, and has a very REAL possibility of coming back, and could once again...VERY MUCH KILL HIM.
SO yeh, happy was not the word to describe me before I went to vote.
As soon as I got done voting I rushed to pick my sons up from school a few minutes early so we could get to the lab to get that urine lab collected AGAIN. We *should* know something probably Thursday (Ha, I hope so). So right now...I sit and worry about so much stuff, stuff I can't control. I don't know what my sons urine labs will show. Hopefully nothing, hopefully it shows all our worry was for nothing. Just like the election results, hopefully all of our worry is for nothing and everything turns out just fine.
I don't regret voting. I don't regret who I voted for.
I'm not angry at how any of my friends or family voted. They voted in the way they thought was right.
I refuse to unfriend people or hate them because of how they voted or because their opinions are different than mine. I will not do it.
Instead of saying hateful hurtful things...just pray for your country, pray for your new President. If you aren't of the praying type, just spread kind thoughts about your country. The President is not a God. The President is not without faults. He is a MAN. Just a man. Not perfect. Just like all of us. Flawed. But God loves us despite our flaws.
To Trump, I say congratulations, and good luck on your next four years.
Mom Circus
