Election 2012

I'm not a very political person. I voted yesterday--some of my choices won and some lost. I voted for both democrats and republicans. I didn't even fill out most of the local bubbles. Brett and I watched the election results roll in, but we were both fairly passive. We both predicted that President Obama would be re-elected, and he was (I mean, we're no Nate Silver. Seriously, is that guy available for fantasy football?).

I went to bed last night not sure what to feel. It didn't really matter to me which candidate won--what concerned me was that either way, America would be divided in the morning. My Facebook newsfeed is a crazy mix of:
OMG OBAMA WON!!!! YESSSSS!!!!
America is ending.
YAAAAY FOR OBAMA!!!
I'm moving to Canada.

I don't like when people don't get along. I don't like when people spew hate at each other. I'm not trying to say people shouldn't be happy or upset about who won. That's sort of the beauty of America. You got to vote. You get to have whatever opinion you want. And you have the right to be totally obnoxious about it. And that right is being exercised all over the place today.

I couldn't help but feeling a calm disconnect from it all last night. There was something bigger at work in my life and in my family. My dad had surgery a few weeks ago, but ended up back in the hospital last Friday night with pneumonia and a bad reaction to multiple antibiotics.

Yesterday, three young men from church came to my parents' house and helped Brett and me rake the lawn. In the rain. It's a small act, but one that meant a lot to me and my family. And that's what I kept thinking about last night. It doesn't matter who gets elected to the school board or mayor or city council. It doesn't matter who has control of Congress or the Senate. And really, it doesn't even matter who's president.

What matters is kindness. When someone needs help, you help them. If they are hungry, you feed them. If they can't get outside, you rake their leaves for them. Maybe that doesn't mean much for everyone in the country; but for one family, it means everything.