This Land is Their Land

This blog is not political in nature, and I like it that way. Those who know me well already know which way I tend to lean (although, if I’m honest, it’s more of a complete slope). This blog exists to keep a record for my children of their lives growing up and acts as mommy therapy for me. However, on the eve following one of the most contentious elections in modern U.S. history, I can’t help but look at the outcome of this election from a mother’s point of view.

Listening to presidential candidates in the months leading up to Election Day brings to mind the first few dates of a new relationship. Your date is trying his best to impress you with his wit, hygiene and table manners. You think to yourself, “This is the perfect man!” You give him your vote. Fast-forward six months into the future, and dates involve a drive-thru dollar menu and deodorant has become optional.

We the people exercise an enormous amount of faith when voting for any candidate. We hold candidates to their word that they will perform the way they have promised. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t, but most often the proverbial red tape gets in the way, frustrating voters and constipating the system once again.

This election year, I thought a lot about what I wanted in a president for my children, and here is the list I came up with:

1)   I want a president who cares more about people than about the bottom line. We instill in children the importance of treating others with kindness, respect, and dignity regardless of who they are. Unfortunately, we adults rarely model these same principles. Our most vulnerable citizens (children, the elderly, the mentally ill, individuals with disabilities, and battered women) are often the first to suffer due to cuts in funding to programs they depend on for their every day existence. There is evidence that even the most primitive of cultures provided for these individuals’ needs. Today, we reward greed by distributing more resources to those who already have the ability to give themselves millions of dollars in year-end bonuses. In the words of my preschooler, “That’s not fair.”

2)   I want a president who makes me proud to live in this country and to raise my children here. And I want the leader of the country I live in to have the respect and admiration of other leaders around the world. I want R and K to know that they are blessed to live in a country where our tax money can provide them with clean drinking water, the right to a free education, and the privilege to vote because those things are not a reality in many parts of the world. But I also want them to understand that the lives of individuals not afforded these rights are every bit as valuable as their own. They just happened to be born into different circumstances.

3)   For my children, I want a president who understands the difference between leading with confidence and leading with arrogance. I want my kids to know that using fear to influence policy decisions is not leadership at all. Hasty, impassioned decisions rarely end well. I want to know that our Commander-in-Chief exhausts every option available before sending troops to war. I don’t know any mother in the world who thinks war is a great idea because every mother sees her own children in those soldiers. No mother would wish the pain of losing a child on another woman.

4)   I hope that my children have a president who understands the importance of compromise and unity. The media reports that not since the Civil War has the country been so divided on so many issues. This election is an opportunity for the leaders and the citizens of this country to put aside party differences and agree that we all want the same things in the end. We want strong futures for our children and grandchildren, and we want to be able to honestly tell them, “If you work hard, you will have the opportunity to go to school, to be a homeowner, to own your own business, or to enjoy your retirement when the time comes.”

5)   I want R and K to understand that getting to the top doesn’t have to be at the expense of others. I was watching team rock-climbing this summer while I tried to get the baby down for a nap, and I was amazed at the system they used to ensure that both climbers reached the top safely. It appeared that both were tethered to the same rope. One climber would make his way up the rope while the other waited. Once the first climber reached his destination, he would unhook part of the climbing apparatus and hand it back to the second climber, thus ensuring his safe ascent. The second climber would return the favor when he caught up to his fellow climber. Everyone has had some help getting to where they are today, whether that was supportive parents, a caring teacher, or a federal student loan. Wouldn’t it be great if we could start passing the rope back?

6)   My wish for a president for my children is that they will have a leader who values their rights as individuals. I want R and K to understand that it’s okay to have their own moral standards and guidelines, and that they should follow their own consciences, but that it’s not okay to impose their moral framework on others. I also want a president who understands that there is a lot more gray area than black and white in most situations. I hope that mine and other children will not be discriminated against due to gender or the gender of the person they choose to spend their life with someday. I hope that both of my children always retain the right to make decisions about their own healthcare, guided by their own moral compasses.

I’m sure I could think of additional qualities (nice teeth, a melodic voice for making long speeches bearable, and the use of proper grammar) that I appreciate in a president, but I will end here. Regardless of whether you’re feeling hopeful or disappointed tonight, the world will keep spinning. The country now begins the task of learning to work together. From the annals of preschool wisdom comes an appropriate quote as we move forward. “You get what you get, and you don’t throw a fit.”