Is it Nov. 4 yet?

I understand that everyone is passionate. I'm thrilled at how many people are stepping up to vote this year and finally take democracy seriously. I'm proud of my generation for engaging in politics where and when they can. I'm proud of those who have never voted before that made sure they were registered.

I think it's it's wonderful that everyone feels led to speak openly about their opinions, fears, etc. My own views have been sculpted from all of the conversation that I've had over the past couple of months. It's probably safe to say that we're all more informed about where we are as a country than we were when this whole process started.

That being sad - I'm appalled at what the election is coming to. The negativity has to stop. I started to think about this when I got an e-mail forward from my mom. It was a "letter" from the left to the right, letting them know what they would be getting if all of the left states split from the right states and how terrible the U.S. would be if the left left and the right had their way. I didn't respond to the e-mail, I just deleted it. Then I saw post that Focus on the Family put out a letter from the future today informing citizens what would happen if Barack Obama was president and what a terrible state we would be in by 2012. I'm appalled. Not just by the letter from Focus on the Family but also by the e-mail that's going around getting the liberals all wound up about how terrible the world would be without them in it? How are we supposed to get anything accomplished with these childlike, pigtail pulling, dirt-throwing, ways of interacting with each other? Actually, scratch that - I'll take someone pulling my hair over this outrageously hateful language any day. It's so frustrating - as much as I want it to be Nov. 4th and as happy I will be when the election is over, I feel like this election is dividing us as a country. The passion we all half is driving us apart. As much as I know there are other pressing issues that the new president will have to deal with when he is inaugurated, I would hope that he would work quickly to reverse a lot of the negativity that has been caused by this very intense campaign.

Sometimes I think we need to let music fuel our actions ...

Shed a Little Light
James Taylor

Let us turn our thoughts today to Martin Luther King
And recognize that there are ties between us
All men and women living on the earth
Ties of hope and love, sister and brotherhood
That we are bound together
In our desire to see the world become a place in which our children can grow free and strong
We are bound together by the task that stands before us and the road that lies ahead
We are bound and we are bound

There is a feeling like the clenching of a fist
There is a hunger in the center of the chest
There is a passage through the darkness and the mist
And though the body sleeps the heart will never rest