A Day To Remember

Election Days are always important, especially the ones that only come every four years (like Leap Day) - the election to opt to retain or change the party or person currently in power.

It's all over by the time you're reading this, so at this point it doesn't matter.  And I should note that I am writing this ON election day, but you won't see it until tomorrow.

November 6, 2012, oddly enough, would also have been my 25th wedding anniversary, had I done the marriage thing right the first time.  Happy Anniversary, Tom, wherever you are.  I still miss having you in my life, while simultaneously understanding that perhaps it's best that we had no children.

None of my Facebook friends, with the possible exception of a few who talk to me personally and who I know in advance their voting strategy, know how I voted today.  Even my husband doesn't know how I voted the whole ballot early this morning.

Not that I don't enjoy a good conversation with my agree-to-disagree husband. We could even debate opposing viewpoints with respect, because that's how we roll.  But we have so little time to just sit and talk these days, between my working for micro-pay while trying to find a "real" job, and his attempts to find a real job himself while collecting gratefully some of that which Uncle Sam provides for those of us over a certain age.

While Jack and I were walking this morning, I was listening to a very interesting show on NPR regarding the psychology of elections and the polarization of this country to one side or the other.  There are some very interesting components that make up each person's own beliefs, including the usual (race, religion, gender, etc.) but also a lot of other associations.

On the TV show "Survivor," soon after the first season, there came about the idea of "an alliance" which is multiple players joining forces to outnumber the other tribe(s).  At this point, I see Republican and Democrat as nothing more than two giant Survivor Alliances.

In my opinion, what keeps this country free is the balance of power among (not between, because even on the ballot there are more than two parties) the various factions.  The President himself (and someday maybe herself) simply does not wield enough individual power to radically change anything.

Also in my opinion, the constant strident and vitriolic arguing among some (not ALL) members of each party is not resolving or helping anything.  Life is already too noisy and chaotic to hear over all the yelling, especially when you don't wan't to hear it.

Speaking of chaotic, while Jack and I were out walking, we met one of the neighbor's dogs who came barreling across the street from his human's control to meet us this morning.  The dog's name was Chaos.  I'm still smiling about that name, which by itself could be a whole other blog entry.

Anyway, our time on this Earth is limited, and probably shorter for each of us than we would like.  An awareness of the finite quality of life certainly makes one (me, at least) take pause to consider how each minute of each day is spent.  I would rather be writing, for example, than arguing politics with my husband or anyone else.

I now return to my low-paying (when measured by my working hour), but still PAYING, job, on which I have a deadline that is six hours away.  That deadline always sneaks up on me.  Time doesn't really speed up or slow down, but it certainly seems that way when I'm goofing off.

Please note that the world is still turning and things are pretty much the same after election day. I already knew this yesterday, as did most of you reading this.  :)