How 'bout that?
Woke up this morning and the sun had risen (okay, figuratively - it was pissing rain, but behind those clouds, somewhere, there was sun), and yet ... George W. Bush had been elected President of the United States.
Gotta say, had I the right to vote in the United States, W. wouldn't have been my choice. Not that I'm a big John Kerry fan - I find little to choose between two rich, privileged, overly-entitled, middle-aged white guys from the same Ivy League school, lecturing the rest of us poor schlubs on what would be best for us. I'd love to know the last time either of them wrote a cheque or glanced at a bank statement or paid part of the balance on an overdue Visa bill or winced at a jump in tuition fees or broke away from a meeting to pick up one of the kids or even snapped off a light as he went past to save a few pennies on the Hydro bill. Tell ya what, sport - I'll listen to you talk about what's best for middle-income families when you can guess within a margin of error of ten bucks what it costs to fill up a Honda Civic. Thought so.
But the electoral process - in the U.S. as it is in Canada - is about taking water with the wine, and all things considered I'd have voted for John Kerry, principally on the basis of "how much worse can he be?" Not inspiring, to be sure. But ... life as we know it.
Today, as I meander through some of my favourite blogs and sort through my e-mails and watch the news, I'm being scorched by a lot of seething anger and vitriol, pelted by sour grapes, assailed by bleatings of despair and hopelessness, and ... well, pissed off by the neener neener neener crowing of those who thought things turned out just fine, thank you.
Stop it. All of you. Please.
My Dad, who's a pretty smart guy, told me that the mark of a decent human being was to win with dignity and lose with grace. He had contempt for Vince Lombardi's old saw: "Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser." He saw nothing to recommend bad losers, and felt the same way about bad winners.
Dad understood that, win or lose, there came a time when the whistle blew and you and your opponent would stand there, on the field, no officials, no rules, no time clock, no score - just two people on a field. And that, in the end, both you and your opponent would have to go back to just being human beings inhabiting the same planet, breathing the same air, and possessed of far more similarities than differences.
If you're thrilled that things turned out the way they did, good for you. Be thrilled. Share it with like-minded friends. They'll understand it better and they will join you in a communal celebration. High five one another. Buy each other drinks. Enjoy. Things aren't going to be as good as you think, but that's all down the road.
And if you think the results sucked ... well, things won't be as bad as you think, but that's down the road, too. Suck it up and resolve to do what you can to mitigate what you think the worst of the damage will be.
Don't accept defeat with resignation and a shrug. But neither should you refuse to accept that - on this day, in this arena - things didn't go your way. Acknowledge, mourn, then shake it off and - having learned - come back stronger.
With her kind permission, I've snipped an essay from a writer I've mentioned here a few times. Sarah D. Bunting - Sars - has a wonderful site called TomatoNation - one of those places I visit every single day. If there's nothing new that day, I delve at random into the archives to feast on some of the most delicious writing I've encountered. I suggest you do the same, and to offer you a taste, here's a response she had to a Kerry supporter in despair over the results of last night's election.
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Man, where to begin. Okay: This is not over.
Yeah, I know. No...I know. Listen: This. Is. Not. Over.
The United States is about potential. No other country has a dream named after it, a dream about improvement and achievement. The results of this election fill me with dread, frankly, but also with determination, because the dream is not dead.
This country is, to my mind, in some serious fucking trouble right now. It's a big job to fix it, the guy in charge is wrong for the job, the legislature is wrong for the job -- it's depressing and shitty.
But millions of people thought Bush sucked and tried to vote him out -- millions! It didn't work, which is a grave disappointment, but -- millions! Think what millions could do if they applied themselves -- in any direction! Writing letters, protesting, raising money, organizing, educating themselves and others. Stubbornly staying put and refusing to back down. Improving the country. Achieving something.
Yes, Bush won. Yes, I want to barf until my stomach lands in the bowl and I die. Yes, I hate that I live in a country where more than half the citizens think that dumb-ass is a good leader.
But I also live in a country where I nicely asked people to give some money to public schools, and those people raised more than ten grand in a week. Yeah, it's a contest, but y'all didn't do that because you wanted a tote bag, for God's sake. You did it because you give a shit. And my readership is not composed of Fortune 500 types, either. (As far as I know. Fortune 500 types welcome, of course. Hi, Mr. Soros! Call me!) It's just folks. It's just you guys, people trying to get by, who did something nice and tried to help and became a part of something. I can't tell you what that's worth.
So, no, it's not a good day, but this country still has so many good people and good ideas in it, and I can't imagine that the good in this country won't prevail. And until that happens, I won't leave. There's work to do. There are faces to get up in, which I'm happy to take the lead on, because I already have an FBI file so what the hell, right?
Senator John Edwards just said that "this fight has just begun." That's goddamn right, cutie. So, readers, get drunk, kick something really hard, scream into a pillow, cut that photo of Karl Rove out of The New Yorker and stab it with a pen, but -- stick around, because I'm telling you, this show is about to get good.
This is not over.
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There it is. Defiance, sure. And dismay. But ... grace.
People are pissed off...blame the religious far right preachers, blame the Michael Moore, Springsteen far left preachers. (Religion vs Artists...does not sound like a very intimidating match) Both sides have contributed. But, these days athletes are conditioned to wildly celebrate after every play. In my day, you wanted to look like you did it before and would do it again. That means no wild dancing after hitting a single. And, this mentality has spread. And conversely, losing has a devastating effect. We do need to seek middle ground and take back from the 2 extremes.
Posted by: Wayne | November 04, 2004 at 08:10 AM