The election was 2 days ago and I worked 17 hours as an Area Manager for elections in my county. It's a fun job most of the time in spite of the back- breaking hours but when you have someone working under you that is very confident yet entirely clueless, it can get tiring.
Then there was the election itself. Based on the noise on the news, from people I deal with daily, and just the local political climate, I honestly didn't think the President had a chance in hell of getting re-elected. But, he did.
And seeing that the local political climate is what is, I am surrounded by terribly unhappy people, everywhere. I. turn. It's not just boo- hoo my guy lost kind of unhappiness, but mind numbing anger. People are Peeee-Oed and I am feeling it.
Some people suspect I supported The President for no other reason than voting-while-black and from them I get averted eyes and snide comments. Others have decided that I instead voted-while-Christian, and assume that I support Romney and so they say awful stuff about The President to my face.
The reality is that I vote-while-thinking and so that makes me neither a Democrat nor Republican because both parties have a lot of stuff wrong.
But I am not explaining that to anyone. I get to have my vote and I get to not be subjected to the negativity from either side. Still the venom and anger is soooo thick that I can see it, taste it, and feel it. I have literally been sick to my stomach for 2 days... Not because I did or didn't get my way, but because of the unhappiness and anger I am currently surrounded with.
And that makes me sad.
Then there was the election itself. Based on the noise on the news, from people I deal with daily, and just the local political climate, I honestly didn't think the President had a chance in hell of getting re-elected. But, he did.
And seeing that the local political climate is what is, I am surrounded by terribly unhappy people, everywhere. I. turn. It's not just boo- hoo my guy lost kind of unhappiness, but mind numbing anger. People are Peeee-Oed and I am feeling it.
Some people suspect I supported The President for no other reason than voting-while-black and from them I get averted eyes and snide comments. Others have decided that I instead voted-while-Christian, and assume that I support Romney and so they say awful stuff about The President to my face.
The reality is that I vote-while-thinking and so that makes me neither a Democrat nor Republican because both parties have a lot of stuff wrong.
But I am not explaining that to anyone. I get to have my vote and I get to not be subjected to the negativity from either side. Still the venom and anger is soooo thick that I can see it, taste it, and feel it. I have literally been sick to my stomach for 2 days... Not because I did or didn't get my way, but because of the unhappiness and anger I am currently surrounded with.
And that makes me sad.
Comments
And I don't think I'm a moderate, or wishy-washy. I just am really, really seeing a lack of "this candidate embodies at least much of what I believe" out there.
I imagine many people feel this way.
So galling. One thing that made me think and I'm not sure what TO think was, someone said if Obama had a white wife he never would have been elected. I think this person might be right. You think because a black man got elected that we've overcome racism and then there is this other layer introduced in that thought. These things should not matter and yet they DO.