Thursday, November 3, 2016

What if the other one wins

. . . .And now, I'll get a little political. ..

What if the other one wins?

 

It has come down to this. Just a few days left, and then after all the vitriol and the entire rancor, someone will become president. Many will not be happy with the choice. It does not matter who will win; a large group will be distressed.

What to do?

Perhaps there are two things that can help. First we need prayer—for the nation, and for ourselves. The world is a dangerous place, and the new president, whoever that be, will find themselves thrust into an unpredictable and chaotic place. Divine Providence is needed. 

Yes people change. Sometimes the reality that they have now become one of the most important people in the world sets in. This is our hope.  Case in point, in 1881 Chester Arthur became president when President Garfield was assassinated. Arthur was not admired. He had become vice president only to placate a certain wing of the Republican Party. He was an opponent of Garfield, and came from the Spoils System, where his main job was as a political hack working at the customs house. Most people felt that because he came from a corrupt system of you-scratch-my-back-and-I’ll-scratch-yours, that he would continue in that way. But, Arthur did not. He rejected the party bosses, and passed civil service reform. He went against type. So, it is possible that whoever wins will be different than the person who was nominated; that they may actually work to improve America.

However even if this does not happen, we should still pray. We have to accept; we have to adjust our thinking. This takes effort, thus we need prayer that will help us see the good in everyone, even those who we viewed as our political opponents. We also need to commune with God, so that we can remember to stay humble kind and happy. By centering on our faith, we can continue on, no matter what happens in Washington.

Second, as the Rolling Stones sang, “you can’t always get what you want”. That is life. “But”, they continue, “If you try real hard, you may get what you need”.  They are not talking about capitulation, but rather about acceptance.  In reality there is little that we can change, so adapt is what we must do.

There is something comforting in that, for regardless of what happens, we can get out of it what we need. We seek the good as we adjust and move on. There are more important things in life than politics, such as family, jobs and faith.

We will survive, whoever wins.