Peace at Last, or Not

Tomorrow is Election Day in the United States. People will be turning out in force to cast their opinions for whom they think should be leading the government at various levels. And I'm sure most of us are all thinking the same thing, 'About [expletive]ing time.'

For the last year-and-a-half, the election has clogged up the airways. Television, radio, flyers in the mail, phone calls. You can't escape it, no matter how you might try. Well, that's not entirely true. I suppose you could escape it, though you would need a very isolated location to live, and would probably have to eschew most if not all forms of technology.

This has been a long, ugly campaign for everyone involved. Both sides have said very bad things about each other. Some people are voting for a specific candidate in order to try to prevent the other candidate from reaching office. Other people aren't going to vote at all, citing their dislike for both candidates. I don't blame them.

But in less than twelve hours, people will begin going to their designated polling places to cast their votes. Soon it will be decided who will be leading the country for the next four years. And after the votes are counted up, the losing party will loudly demand that there be a recount.

Apparently, one thing that other countries hate about the US is the way that we try to reinforce the importance of voting in other countries, but much of the population of the US is disinterested in voting. Well, I personally would feel much better about voting for president if it wasn't preceded by a soul-crushing, mind-numbing, despair-fueling year-and-a-half, filled to the brim with politicians bad-mouthing each other. I don't feel excited or joyous about this. I feel like I've had to watch a comatose loved one as their health slowly degenerated, and I'm now giving the order to shut off life-support.

Please, make it stop. I'm not a strong individual. I can't sustain an extended period of political furor. I just can't. I'm not like that one group that's been calling our house every week for the last five months. I can't keep it up.

I just want it to be over. Is that really so wrong?

Soon. Soon it will be over.

I hope.