As our political season in this country draws to a close and we can all celebrate the end of the endless chicanery of campaign commercials, I feel like I need to step to the side for just a minute and fuss a bit.
Kids, some of us have seriously got to grow the hell up already.
I mentioned my recent culling of my Facebook friends list last week and I swear I'm just about ready for round two. Folks, I tend to wear my opinion on my sleeve and tell others to deal with it but I have never, ever seen the kind of juvenile, nonsensical claptrap spewing from otherwise rational human beings as I have since this election entered the metaphorical short rows. I cannot for the life of me understand why anyone finds it necessary to ridicule or slander someone else over a political difference of opinion. I actually saw a post this morning in which someone I used to have a lot of respect for accused a Romney supporter of being a racist and anti-woman just because they chose to vote Republican straight ticket. Really people? Has it gotten that simple minded out there? Or is it really true that all Democrats support government oversight of the smallest detail of my life and hate white guys? Silly, ain't it?
Instead of verbally lambasting these narrow minded mental midgets until their charred remains look like something out of a Walking Dead episode, I would instead like to remind everyone of a little notion called perspective. Perspective can be a bit tricky to keep in line sometimes, but let's try nonetheless. Everyone sees the world their own way, attempting to comprehend existence through a filter of their opinions and life experience. No two people will experience an event the same way, even though sometimes their perspectives line up enough that they feel they agree on the topic. However, perspective can also refer to keeping things in their proper place or degree of importance compared to others. I think what has occurred lately in the minds of a large number of people is a complete loss of perspective when it comes to this election. It seems that folks are forgetting that there is still a life to live after 11/6/2012 and regardless of who wins and who loses you still have to deal with the carnage you and your overactive mouth may have wrought.
Now, I will be the first to admit that losing perspective and going balls out on a topic is far too easy to do. Take the gym as an example. I work out with and around a lot of large folk. It's far too easy sometimes to either overdo it to keep up or feel like I'm behind just because I'm not tossing 405 in the air on a bench press like it's made of nerf. The only way I keep perspective there is to remember that I took about 7 years off from doing anything serious in a gym and that I'm still lifting twice what the "average guy" in our country can. In other words, sometimes I have to take a step back and look at the real world as a whole and not that little subset.
Sounds like some almost usable advice, doesn't it? (After a year of writing this blog, I guess it had to happen eventually, huh?)
Folks, my point is simply this: I'm thrilled that this election seems to be inspiring some many people to be passionate about politics but for the love of whatever you deem holy try keep it in at least a bit of proper perspective. Morons will be morons, that's a given, but can we try to not take the bait and jump all over each other in an unbridled effort to join their ranks?
Just a reminder: if you haven't voted yet, make sure you do tomorrow. Remember, you can't bitch if you don't participate!!
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