Election Day RAKs

Today is the day.

I wish I could end that sentence with the exclamatory exuberance I usually display when I speak and write, but the simple fact is I’m weary.

I’m weary of negativity. I’m weary of trash-talking. I’m weary of back-biting nastiness that benefits no one.

So today, on such a most important day for my country, I choose joy because despite my weariness, I am blessed.

I am blessed to live in a country that allows me to speak my opinion without incarceration or death.

I am blessed to have the opportunity to engage in debate, but hold true to my values and beliefs without fear.

I am blessed to have the privilege to be anything I want to be: student, teacher, mother, wife, author, speaker, entrepreneur.

I am blessed to make eye contact with anyone I meet, to smile and say hello no matter the perceived or actual level of social hierarchy.

I am blessed to live in a place of prosperity. I have all my basic needs met and never find myself walking miles for clean water or sanitized facilities. I don’t sleep on a hard floor. I enjoy the luxuries of a refrigerator, a washer/dryer, and air conditioning in the summer.

I am blessed to stand in a line that wraps around an elementary school building, to have the opportunity to cast my vote for our country’s next leader.

I am blessed to stand next to my daughter, who at the age of 18 is voting in her first presidential election.

And even though it’s not much, I’m blessed to show kindness to others by giving away little gifts of appreciation to the volunteers at my voting precinct.

I have the option to choose anger and hate or love and joy.

Today I choose joy. 🙂