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.
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