Testify

So I watched most of the DNC last week and felt a certain way. Then I watched most of the RNC this week and felt a different certain way. And though I'm not prone to talking about politics unless prompted or forced, I feel the need to articulate some things regarding all of this.

I know the stories of the candidates, and I know the stories of their running mates and families. At the end of the day what appeals to me, and has always appealed to me is a mixture of these two parties that seem bent on beating each other down. Dems seem weak in the eyes of Reps, and Reps seem uncaring in the eyes of Dems. On any given day I could be persuaded by the basic philosophy of either party, if not how that works out in practice, primarily because no one is advocating the wholesale slaughter of babies. Or the rape of Grandmothers. Or the cannibalization of anyone. There are principles we can all get behind, and some of them make darn good sense.

But we are humans in the end, and humans want to belong to a group. Before we could form words, or write language we understood that the more like-minded people you could surround yourself with, the better chance you stood of surviving. We wandered as nomads, but in that wandering we formed tribes. Eventually those tribes settled down in nice places and formed lands, and then cities. Then when we had reproduced enough, and needed more, we sought what other folks had, mostly through trade and violence. Eventually when we had taken all we could take from others we took more from the earth. We expand outward always, searching in our group for what we as a group want. And when our desires are threatened we lash out. When another group threatens us, we seek to stomp on them. In our hearts we are afraid. And this is what I saw the past two weeks.

I saw a group that has lost it's way. Struggling in the wilderness to hold on to better times and better ideals, but flailing in the changing climate of a world that doesn't work the way it used to. I saw a group that is trying hard to embrace the new world, and the new desires of it's people, yet wrought with internal strife because the tribal elders can't let go of their divisive roots. I saw a people desperate for new options and new opinions. For a tomorrow that is vastly different from all our yesterdays. I saw a people reciting the same beliefs and mantras of their forefathers because they have grown comfortable in their ideas, and cannot see beyond the conflicts of the past. Most of all I saw a nation divided by it's reaction to fear.

Some will hide behind what they have always known in an attempt to let something familiar shield them. Others will step into the face of what they are most terrified by because they understand that it is their fear to face, and no one can face it for them. Still others look for a leader to tell them how to behave. Someone to stand amongst the people, and show them by example that if we are all together, then what we are afraid of can be overcome. This last reaction is what these elections and this process has been about.

There are two leaders facing off against each other. One says we can cast out the old ways, and destroy the old city walls, and build something new and remake our tribe and lands into what we have been wanting. One says we can build a greater city upon the foundations we have and put up more stone and armaments to protect what we are most afraid of losing.

The problem I have is that it's hard to find water wandering in the desert, and it's hard to see the horizon when you've built such high city walls. You can lay yourself bare, or you can guard with everything you've got, but in the end you're going to be missing something critical. We should be all things for all people. We should be secure but not closed off. We should have roots but allow for growth and change. My sincere wish is for unity. We are a tribe of people who stands up and says, we don't want to take from you, just give. We don't want to fight, we want peace. We don't want you to wander, come build a land with us. You will be respected, and you will have all the opportunities that this land can offer you. We are the human tribe. The human experiment. We believe that all is possible. And we have the potential for so much when we can act with one voice.

There will be change, either way. There will be hope, either way. There will be the possibility of so much more to come. And if all that comes from this exorcise in democracy is that we leave one footprint behind us, and begin making different one in front of us, at least we are moving toward tomorrow. There's a land we've yet to reach in front of us. One we can only reach by taking steps together.