A Love Letter to my Family (and yours)
This may seem political, but it really is a Love Letter
As the eldest (almost) member of our ever-growing family, I’m trusting that you’ll hear and maybe even value what I wish to say.
With this crazy election season, I’ve thought often about Joe and Joyce and what they’d be saying. Dad would scoff and shake his head at all of the ridiculous nonsense and Mom would have a few choice words about “some people,” then they would rebalance themselves with a Sunday drive or a dish of ice cream.
Remembering them reminds me of the qualities of moderation and humor and perspective, all things they gifted to us through our DNA. I’m thinking about this because right now I’m feeling something else entirely. Something life changing. I am not myself, a bit undone and out of balance. At the same time, I am more solid and certain than I’ve ever been.
For context (and perhaps credibility) you should know that I’ve been intently focused on arguments from the political Right and the Left for several years. My perspectives lean Left but I’m clear that this November 5th election is about so much more than the lists of “what He will do” or “what She will do” if elected.
I’m writing to you now because of the urgency I feel and that I know is REAL. I no longer wonder or question: “Are my news sources just as extreme as those on the other side?” I no longer wonder or question if I have the full story or am being manipulated by my own news choices. I am NOT wondering about what to believe and whether it’s true.
I hope, and somehow know, that you’ll trust me and give a few minutes to read the essay that finally shocked me out of my 75 years of easy-going moderation. It was written by Rachel Bitecofer for The Cycle (note her background and qualifications). This is her Substack essay:
If the former President is elected into power, nothing will be the same. The dismantling of our fragile democracy will begin to unfold. This will affect everything in your way of life. The precious things we hold dear and so many things that are taken for granted.
And now, here is where Love comes in.
I love you! I love our children, our grandchildren, their children and their grandchildren…
I hope you love me too and that our care for one another is enough that you’ll read and take my warning to heart. We hold the future in our ballots. This is big. So much bigger than most of us imagine.
Thank you for sharing your wisdom and truth with us, Kathleen. I trust you. I trust my own gut. We have voted already and voted left down the line, despite our misgivings about the absence of big picture leadership and balanced vision for our nation and the world. I believe it would behoove us all greatly to do as some of us have done over the last years, which is to do our best to understand where people are coming from regardless of who they like or support, to read respected sources from a variety of perspectives, to look outside the boxes of our two main political parties, and hopefully be able to identify just how narrow the parameters are for what we are encouraged to care about. And to take that awareness and somehow be able to juggle areas of personal interests, with areas of national interests with areas of global interests/needs. I see both sides of our two party system engaging in “righteously justified“ challenges to freedom of speech, freedom of liberty, and largely ignoring justice for all. None of that is ok with me. As I see it, the main problems we face are unfettered governmentally subsidized capitalism, a likely unavoidably changing global position for the US, and a lack of Big Picture Vision by those in charge, be they elected or “grandfathered” in. That’s enough for now—thanks for reading if you made it this far. Wishing peace, justice and abundance for all. 🕊️🌎🌍🌏🕊️