Some Final Thoughts...

About 10 years ago, I reached a point in my life where I felt that I had to decide then and there whether or not I was going to spend the rest of my life espousing church doctrine and encouraging personal change and  improvement to all the people that I loved in my life or to spend my life just loving those people for who they were, just as they were and not to hold back that love if what they did or felt or believed was different from me. That rather than to preach religion to anyone, I would let that unconditional love that I shared with others ultimately be the religion that I taught them. Obviously, I chose the latter and I've never regretted it even though it isn't nearly as easy as I just made it sound. I am not perfect, and I'm sure I haven't been at my most loving each and every day since then, but I've done my best to stick with it. Because I feel that way, a lot of things about me have changed in the last decade-and most particularly when it comes time to cast a ballot.

I do not think Barack Obama is our new savior and I know a lot of the promises he made can't possibly come to fruition in the way he very idealistically hopes that they will. I also think that John McCain would have made a wonderful president and wish he could have, for at least four years; held that well-deserved title of "Commander in Chief" that his time in the Hanoi Hilton surely earned him. However, I am relieved that a man who would use air quotes so casually with the words 'health of the mother' and who would choose someone as politically young and unproven as Governor Palin as his second-in-command will not be taking the oath of office in January. (And when I cast my vote, it really did come down to those two issues.) Overall, I am pleased with the outcome of yesterday's national election.

As far as the states go, I am saddened by the passing of Prop 8 in California and similar measures in Arizona and Florida. But I am also sickened by the anti-Mormon ads that were aired in California over the past couple of days which targeted an entire church even though campaigning for Prop 8 was the personal choice of individual members (and not a choice that I EVER would have made). Two wrongs don't make a right people. And speaking of wrongs, you might live in Oklahoma IF...a proven competent and classy man like Jim Roth can lose an election to a relative unknown (Dana Murphy) whose platform might as well have been "Hey! At least I'm straight," while a nut job like Sally Kern can get re-elected handily.

I do not wish to beat the issues of abortion or homosexuality into the ground. There are very compelling arguments to be made on all sides of either issue. They can also be debated to death without any civil resolution which is why I usually eschew mentioning either one on a daily basis here. I have a lot of love and respect for people of a variety of opinions on both subjects. As a result, my vote tends to go towards those officials and towards those laws who leave it to individuals to work such personal matters out for themselves based on the dictates of their own consciences rather than out of fear of social stigma or legal repercussions. My philosophy on both is simple, if I want my rights to live as a white, straight, Latter-Day Saint woman protected by my government; then I must respect the rights of other people of all races, genders, sexual orientation, and religions as well. As I said in the beginning, my job is to love people as they are for who they are or, as Jesus said, 'to love my neighbor as myself.' I am quite happy to leave my Heavenly Father in charge of sorting out the rights and wrongs of such things when we get to the other side. My love for people of all beliefs, lifestyles, and opinions is what guided my vote yesterday, and I hope that someday, loving our neighbors as ourselves will ultimately become what guides us all regardless of what we believe or how we vote. That is all. Thanks for reading.