I imagine every single person reading this post knows the US’s presidential election is Tuesday.
I imagine that almost every single person reading also knows who I’ve voted for.
Now, I’m not going to exhort you about anything, anything at all, because I also imagine we are exhorted into exhaustion. But I did want to say something about why I voted as I did.
I grew up believing that if you have a lot you owe a lot. Not that anyone ever said this out loud. High WASPs, remember, don’t do overt. But the example was set, that one must give in one way or another, and, I suppose because our family functioned with love, it has been followed. Successful systems reward their participants, if we allow ourselves a little analysis in the midst of strong emotion.
As I grew up, and began to examine my beliefs, I also understood that I thought “you have a lot you owe a lot” just plain made sense. Never mind virtue; it was logical. I thought, surely if there is good in the universe, which, yes, I believe there is because otherwise why bother, wouldn’t we be set up by nature to get better? I thought as human beings made their lives easier, via technology, and safety and health became more widely possible, those who wound up with more ease, more health and more safety would share. That as our fears and sorrows abated, the good of the universe as embodied by our natural generosity could prevail.
I know. Might be naive.
But let’s say that idea is right, it turns out that a nation still needs an example and successful systems. Just like families. For good to prevail, our systems need to reward all participants. For good to prevail, love needs to be valued–love for partners for the earth for truth for humans–not mocked.
I take that as my highest principle and I rarely argue what we might think of as facts and policies. For most of us, the facts we use to justify our beliefs are a choice based on feelings. Same for policies, as very few of us really know what the impact of most debated policies might be. The numbers are too large and causality too difficult to determine. So I choose based on believing people are good, because it just doesn’t make sense for existence that they wouldn’t be.
I would like a leader who believes as I do.
Have a good weekend.
34 Responses
This is one of the best pieces you have ever written.
@Nancy, Thank you. It is my deepest belief and my guiding principle despite the profound uncertainty of today.
Thank you for this, Lisa. I agree with Nancy–probably your best piece ever, although I have saved quite a few.
Well said Lisa!!
@Kristin, Thank you.
Brava! Let’s cross our fingers for a good outcome Tuesday.
@Jean B., Crossed all the way.
“From those to whom much is given, much is expected.”
@joannawnyc, Exactly so. xoxox
Beautifully said, Lisa. I have to believe good will prevail on Tuesday.
@Leslie K, Thank you. I will try and keep my faith strong.
I too have voted and now have my fingers crossed.
@Heather Lack, Crossed 360 degrees:)
Well said. Thank you. Complete agreement.
@Katherine C. James, Thank you:).
agreed. my credo is to do the right thing. because it’s the right thing, regardless of recognition. (and in fact, silently and without recognition is my preference.) i am hoping for an outpouring of support from citizens who believe in the better angels of our nature on tuesday.
@jane, I will hope for the same thing. I agree, I feel uncomfortable when praised for doing anything that seems evidently right to me.
You wax poetic while I rant and rave. ;) Here’s hoping for a tsunami of like-minded folk.
As you do so often, you expressed what I think, but more beautifully and more thoughtfully than I would have.“You have a lot, you owe a lot” is much simpler than the usual formulation. I may quote you often.
As a lawyer, I will be doing what I can to make sure that people who are entitled to vote in Pennsylvania on Tuesday are able to do so, and to have their vote counted. Let’s hope for the best.
@MJ, Thank you, thank you, thank you, MJ! You are doing the work of the angels. It must be great to have the right skills and be in the right place. I’ve voted, but I’m in a deep blue state and my vote in presidential elections never counts – except that this year, I believe that the popular vote will have a great deal of meaning.
I’m preparing for outcomes I don’t like, and for a protracted period where we aren’t sure who our new leader will be.
As someone who has been in the workforce a long time I have ideas about good leaders, how they treat the people that work for them, and what practices help people do their best. I voted with that in mind.
@RoseAG, I always appreciate your practical approach to things.
Right is right, even if no one else does it.
Juliette Low, Founder of the Girl Scouts of USA born October 31st, 1860
Here’s to positive change on Tuesday.
@Holly Rose, I knew nothing about Low. Thank you so much for that
As someone from the UK who resentfully knows that our leaders always follow the US as a guiding star I am cheered by the views expressed above . If enough of you think like this maybe various pending disasters will not come to pass…….?
The values you espouse and the sentiments expressed in the comments stand the test of time. How this election turns out will say much about us as a society and a nation. We need a leader who values truth, facts and human dignity in all . The existing polarization drains our collective resources to successfully address the enormous domestic and international challenges facing us.
However, Lisa, I suspect you are preaching to the choir. I hope the majority of voters feel the same.
As the saying goes..,”You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink”…Too much faith is put upon our so called “Leaders”…Goodness and Integrity lies within…Enough Said
This is an important election. I am optimistic that good will prevail. People are more motivated and mobilized to make this happen. Thank you for an excellent post.
Beautifully said!
Dottoressa
@Holly Rose, I knew nothing about Low. Thank you so much for that quotation.
Fingers crossed. Couldn’t agree with you more.
As many have said, this is so exactly how I feel but expressed so much more eloquently!
Thank you for being my voice, my conscience, my muse. So beautifully expressed. For a minute, though I want to play Devil’s Advocate ’cause in my experience of my WASP DNA, there was often the thought that anyone NOT a WASP was somehow lesser. That’s how I was raised anyway. And then I heard a story about Bobby Kennedy at the dinner table, the night after he’d visited Appalacian homes for the first time. And one his daughters told the story of her father announcing then, in no uncertain terms, that their lives must be of service and goodness. That all they were being given in their lives must serve as a springboard for addressing the inequities of our country. Iso remember hearing this story ’cause until then, being a good WASP, I hadn’t fully realized how “others” felt the same sense of fairness and compassion as our privileges allow. Oh dear, it looks like, I DID exhort and preach today!!
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