Tomorrow, Tomorrow

I'm incredibly thankful to live in a free country, one where citizens' voices can be heard.

I'm thankful to be able to have opinions without fear of persecution (aside from the occasional Facebook taunting).

I'm thankful we can disagree, but still live together mostly peacably.

 

I’m thankful for free speech.

I’m thankful for the ability to vote (though in full dislcosure I didn't this year, so feel free to ignore whatever I have to say).

I'm thankful to be an American.

 

But, and I don't say this lightly,  I am so ready for tomorrow to be here.

 

I'm ready to wake up and see that the world is still spinning, in spite of silly predictions from the nation's biggest extremists.

I'm ready to see if people actually do move to Canada, like their cheap threats have implied.

 

I'm ready to get back to our "regularly scheduled programming," so to speak.

And frankly, I'm ready to see what SNL does with the material all this campaigning has brought about.

 

And I know I probably won't see elephants and donkeys joining hooves and singing songs tomorrow, or drinking Coke.

I know we won't suddenly all like each other, and agree with each other, or forget about what's been said, or yelled, leading up to this point.

 

I know a lot of people will be disappointed, disillusioned, no matter who wins tonight.

Most importantly all those shiny people masquerading as "journalists."

 

But to me, the most troubling aspect of every election isn’t who wins or loses.

It’s how the game is played.

 

 

And that’s why I’m so ready for tomorrow.

 

I'm ready for the country to feel less divided. Less hostile. And for my Twitter feed to go back to featuring posts about what was had for lunch, and complaints about traffic, anything besides rants about how people that disagree with you are idiots, unworthy of air.

 

I'm ready for pastors to return to preaching about anything besides politics (and thankful that some did resist the urge to resort to bumper sticker spirituality).

 

I'm ready to wear red or blue, without being labeled.

And ready to turn on the television without hearing someone "approve" messages bashing his opponent.

 

But more than anything, I’m especially ready to see more Angry Birds, Hello Kitty, and anything but big heads vying for my attention (and quarters).

 

I don't really want to be sold on a political party, or a person.

I don't want to put all my hope into a human.

 

I want to see a flawed system start to be restored.

I want to see people working together towards positive change, instead of seeing our nation's leaders act like drunken fans of opposing football teams.

 

I want to see a united front. Meaningful conversation. Intelligence and grace.

 

There are still big questions to be answered, big problems to be tackled, and a lot of civilized dialogue that needs to take place in Washington, and across our great country.

And I'll admit, those talks are hard. They're uncomfortable. They stretch us, and push us (painfully at time) to think beyond our own preconceptions, our own prejudices (and we ALL have them).

 

But I'm so thankful that all that can start now, the coming together instead of the tearing apart.

The looking for common ground instead of attacking of differences.

The paying attention to what really matters, instead of honing in on “hot button” issues.

 

I'm thankful that tomorrow is a new day, in a season of thanksgiving.

And we all have a lot to be thankful for this year.