Choose to see the best in others

It's November 1st, and it's snowing. Yesterday the kids canvassed the neighborhood trick or treating in their short sleeve shirts. Weather is strange. I often think the weather and seasons are good parallels to life.  Life can shift in an instant, and it often does. And that shift either brings your life extra warmth or a touch of iciness. I don't know that I ever thought too much about fall as a child or teen, but it has become one of my favorite seasons, even if it does bring that added element of fear that winter is just around the corner.

The bright red, yellow and orange leaves remind me that everything has its time to shine. Leaves do a necessary job in the summer, shading us from the blazing heat and sun. No one really talks about green leaves, but boy do we need them and appreciate them too little. But it's the moment they change that we remember them and smile at them and feel a little fluttering inside thinking about how grand and gorgeous the world is. How creative the ultimate creator was and is. 

Soon the leaves will be gone, and we will be reminded once more that all things in life have an end. The winter and the grayness will drag on, and we will dream of color and sunshine, but even in the winter we can still see beauty in the swaying branches and peeling tree trunks if we look.

Life is much more about these cycling seasons than it is about all the political and social nonsense that is happening in the world. This is an election year. I didn't think it was possible, but it actually feels like an uglier election year than four years ago. The feeling in the air is thick with mistrust, disinterest and ego. Each side is talking too much and listening too little, and for those of us in the middle, we feel almost embarrassed and afraid to speak up or interject our feelings. I'm ready for November 3rd to be over because I'm tired of the meanness from both sides. 

Tim recently overheard the kids talking rudely about the candidates, and he reminded them (and me later that night) that no matter what people deserve respect--a word that has been sort of lost in society, and perhaps rightly so, but can't we bring respect back? Can't we teach it by living it? I talked to the girls yesterday and told them that no matter how people are portrayed on the news or on commercials, it is not our job to be mean about them. We can disagree and dislike who they are and what they stand for, but we don't need to spread it further. We can just respect them by voting for what we feel is right. Nothing more is needed. They understood, and I realized I needed to be a little better. 

November 4th is going to come, and I am going to get up in the morning and teach a full day of school. I'm going to hug my kids. I'm going to love my neighbor. I'm going to enjoy the remaining leaves on the trees. I'm going to continue to plan for my future. I'm going to hope for women in the world that society will see us for what we are. I'm going to continue to do everything I already am doing because an election can't change that.

There are more things in the world that should bring us together--such as all things pumpkin and the beauty of changing leaves--than things that pull us apart. 2020 has been a bleak year, and even in the midst of it, new conversations have been started. People have volunteered countless hours of service during the pandemic. I've seen more good than bad. People have risen to the challenges.

Please remember that in being true to yourself and your vote that it doesn't justify meanness to others. Choose to see the best in others, and they will often surprise you. I choose to see the best in fall rather than quaking at the thought of winter around the corner, and it continues to surprise me and put a smile on my face.