It's "leaving" outside on this warm November morning. Once again today, I'll probably spend time gathering leaves blown to the ground by a brisk breeze overnight.
During my first cup of coffee this morning, after a better night's sleep than Tuesday's, I have received a video in my Messenger with instructions to pass it on "like fire."
I have deleted it.
I have also read blurbs of news from professional news sources about the present state of the Presidential election results and that armed protesters have been seen at the Arizona state Capitol.
Three times within less than 60 seconds have reported to the Facebook governing board the same "cut and paste news" suggesting that cheating is going one several key electoral states.
This reminds me of the good ol' days as a teacher while grading written reports and, in some cases, finding several reports word-for-word identical.
One situation involved three girls, one of which had access to a copy machine. This was BEFORE computers and cut-and-paste.
Easy peasy, they thought until their creepy ol' English teacher called them in, asking an explanation and then calling their parents.
I cannot and do not play "English teacher" on Facebook. Any English teacher will tell you that every piece of writing has an audience. Those audiences range from oneself, to one other person or to infinite numbers of readers.
Before writing and sending anything, we must consider our audience, and if some of them recognize that the "news" you are sending to the masses looks just like those identical, written projects for my English class copied from a copy machine, many in your audience are gonna notice and respond accordingly.
That's why we have professional news organizations with trained journalists, for the most part, dedicated to the truth and accuracy, and that's why when we see a cut-and-paste (several times on Facebook), we should maybe check a few other professional sources before sending it on.
It's an informal medium and should be viewed as such EXCEPT when derogatory, damaging untrue information gets cut and pasted and sent.
Thankfully, we do now have Facebook gods who try to regulate such things.
Anyway, I'm worn out, and have been sitting here at the computer for merely half an hour.
Please, could we approach this election with some sense of trust in our American system of elections.
Just as we have the right to skepticism, we are wise to extend trust in the elections system. These are dedicated Americans, each doing their job as they are trained to do, each trying to get it right. Obviously, there will be some glitches, but for the most part, we should allow our democratic system to work.
When it wasn't looking good for my candidate Tuesday night, I carried my campaign sign inside from the rain and eventually went to bed early, feeling about as despondent as I can ever remember in my lifetime.
Sleep would not come.
If it did, I wasn't aware, and my body and mind certainly felt weary when I finally gave up and got up at about 4 a.m.
Throughout the night, with very little hope but certainly with my usual journalistic curiosity, I flipped on the TV.
For me and for many of my like-minded friends and family, it was a better day yesterday.
Still, not once, no matter how bad I was feeling during that first night of the election, did I ever feel the need to barrage Facebook and Messenger or my email outbox with a bunch of baseless cut-and-paste claims insinuating that someone was cheating against my candidate.
I just felt bad, really, really, really bad, thinking about the next four years ahead with social media and daily news filled with negativity, scorn, lies, threats, intimidation, demonization, whining . . . .
As one who has always thrived off from positivity, integrity, respect and inspiration in work settings, at gatherings, at home and with my leaders--whatever their function--it's a no brainer why I chose my Presidential candidate.
As I said to one of my friends, I viewed the next few years in my "golden years" life as empty, helpless and hopeless, knowing that the country I have always loved and supported in my own personal patriotic fashion would be but a memory.
No need to counsel me as you read this: that's exactly how I felt. I do prefer the upbeat route, but all the signs were indicating not just a slight detour but a major, major turn in the road toward a scary, scary, uncomfortable place.
And, if today or tomorrow, the election results do not favor my wishes, I have strongly considered taking my own slight detour which will in no way infringe upon my friends, my family or acquaintances.
With me, there is no thought of guns or intimidation or passing along lies to serve my personal needs.
Maybe that's because the America which I have known for 73-plus years has seen Presidential elections run relatively smoothly, always with people happy and people disappointed, depending on their respective candidates.
I've been unhappy at least three or four times with the results of Presidential elections but have moved on, knowing that we could fix this with our democratic process, or we could work around it.
One time I really didn't care that Pat Paulson did not win the Presidency; I just could not vote for either candidate.
I do not believe the people charged with counting the votes are cheating. I think they are probably working harder than ever with this election to avoid such charges.
I hope they will be allowed to complete their work and that when they do, we can be mature enough and American enough to accept the results. If we're not happy, we're still in charge of our own lives, at least to a certain extent.
Finally, on this morning where "leaving" has turned to "raining," my daughter Annie sent me the video at the top the other day, suggesting I post it on the blog.
I listened to it and cried. So beautiful and such a reminder of another place we love.
This cellist is performing on the West Coast of Ireland.
And, this morning, amidst all the other "noise" and news, I read the story in the link above. It has some great reminders for how enduring the emotions of the times. It's definitely worth the read.
Happy Thursday from the old school marm who would really like us to just all get along.
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