Tag: presidential election

Truth vs. Evil

Evil has a way of blurring the lines of truth in every way.

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Today…I am unbelievably embarrassed to be an American! The range of emotions I am feeling today due to the despicable actions of my fellow Americans is keeping me very unsettled. The level of “in-your-face” bullying attitude that comes from our so-called President has successfully been imparted to nearly half of the voting population. Every person who participated in the horrendous violence to our beautiful capital building in Washington D.C. has just shown all of us how low and how vulnerable we are all willing to go, and our ability to fall prey to such an attitude coming from a leader. 

Our President’s inability or unwillingness to accept the truth of this election has reminded me of how evil strives to keep things stirred up to bring division. I have come to the conclusion that there is no longer a clear line of truth in our country. Taking into account the racial injustices, the inconsistency of our justice system and above all, the freedom our leader has to show hatred, strife, putrid self-pride, bullying, greed and a hatred for the truth itself. 

There is a constant battle of good vs. evil on a daily basis. We each have to come to a truth within us that is a pure truth. I’m sure Donald Trump and his followers would say that have a truth within them. Who am I to say they don’t, but in my understanding and logic, a pure truth would NEVER display such actions and behavior. Evil has a way of blurring the lines of truth in every way. Evil is cunning, manipulative, divisive and controlling.

As humankind, we don’t have a choice but to have evil with us. Our choice is whether we are going to partner with the characteristics of evil or will we partner with the pure truth, which in my life I will name GOD. Truth (God) is love!

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, love endures all things. Love never ends. (I Corinthians 13:4-8)

So I have to ask myself, what am I going to do with the feelings I have that makes me want to judge my fellowman because their radical behavior? I have to go back to that place of peace within myself that is settled in knowing that pure love brings me my peace, and the fact that my fellowmen were also a creation of true love. Truth and evil will always coexist because we are human. We are not perfect. We are not God. 

We will never all agree to or see things the same way. That’s the beauty of God’s creation. We are so diverse, but that does not mean we have to have division. We are all different, but created with the same life-blood and same love of our creator. 

I really don’t believe any of us like division, manipulation or deceit. We were created in the image of God and naturally there is an innate pull to truth and love. We all crave it! But what do we do with evil? Accept that it is always here, but know this, only love will change the world! 

It’s almost too much for our human minds to comprehend how ugly and destructive evil can be, but also how great and vast love is. Both are easy to fall in to. So, as humans, we have a choice. Are we going to fall for evil or for love?

I don’t know about you, but I’m going to fall…for LOVE! Won’t you join me? 

Happy COVID-19 Thanksgiving

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A simple poem I wrote while reflecting on the past year…2020!

What a year this has been,

None of us comprehending how it would end.

In the beginning we saw,

A lot of our emotions becoming raw.

Our feelings of being controlled,

Brought out our inner trolls.

Wearing masks to cover our faces,

Made us wary of our personal spaces.

Our leaders fighting for the survival of their ego,

All the while, people dying and families letting them go.

COVID did it’s best to keep us apart,

But yet we are still close at heart.

Our historic Presidential election,

Seemed to hold captive all our attention.

Our nation teetered on the brink of a decision,

Deciding if we wanted ego or affection.

Now we come to Thanksgiving,

All being grateful for still living.

2020 will be a year of unbelievable sadness,

But 2021 will be a year of abundant gladness!

Let us look forward to beginning again,

With hope, with love and vision regained!

There is so much to be thankful for

But in 2021 there will be so much more!

One Nation…Healed

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We have come to a moment in time in our history that calls us to look inside and see who we really are, as a nation and also in our individual personal lives. I will admit, it really takes an inner strength within each one of us to not react to the recent election and the drama surrounding it, or the pandemic we are crawling through slowly. 

It can certainly feel like life has been one enormous upheaval in 2020. Definitely has not been our favorite year! We are not used to being told what to do…stay home, wear a mask, don’t travel, don’t have community, don’t go to church, don’t, don’t, don’t. Then as if it couldn’t get any worse, we have a historic presidential election that gets rocked to the core with allegations and assumptions and our leader acting as if his piece of candy was being taken away from him. I don’t have a problem with making sure votes are counted accurately and securely. I’m glad we have protocols in place to make sure that happens. But, when the leader of the free world hides and throws a temper tantrum, that does not show the world that we are a respectable and proud country. Is there a certain level of satisfaction that comes when not conceding to a lost election and blocking access for the president-elect to prepare for his time in office? I’m just really trying to figure this out in myself. It puzzles me. 

For those of you familiar with the enneagram, I am a 9 on the scale and I do not like conflict. But, I have a strong justice button in me at the same time and the way the current president is behaving is appalling to me. He campaigned and did what he could to get the American people to vote for him. Voting records were broken by both parties and never before in history have this many Americans voted in an election. These are unprecedented times we are in. So how do we handle it personally without lashing out, without reacting in a negative way, without separating friendships and family, just because we see things in a different way?

Let’s look back…first… before Donald Trump was elected in 2016 the country was at peace, in general. Yes, there is a lot under the surface that’s always brewing. But on the surface it was peaceful. There was a sort of order about life. 

Then came the disorder…upheaval in every imaginable way. It was like heads began rolling, conflict and disorder in the white house, then the pandemic, loss of jobs, loss of lives, all kinds of racial conflicts began to open old wounds to bleed again. Now all of a sudden we are each having to defend ourselves from the onslaught of hate, evil, cruelty and murder. Whoa…where did this come from? Well, it’s been under the surface all along, but let me just add, a country is defined by its leader(s). I have never seen so much hate and animosity flying through the air, over the airwaves, over social media (I’m guilty of it as well), in the media and even in the traffic on the freeways, lines in the grocery stores etc. People, this has got to stop. We are better than this! So, how do we restore order?

I’m glad you asked! Let’s call this re-order. Re-ordering will only begin to happen when each one of us stops, takes a good long look at what is inside of us and begin to change that which needs to change! Change only begins with me and with you. 

Take a look in yourself and try to recognize and ask yourself, what it is that causes me to be angry, to defend what I defend, what trips my triggers to lash out in spite? Why am I so bitter? Why do I not care for the poor? Why do I not give more? Begin doing the random acts of kindness. Pay for someone’s coffee or meal. Buy a sandwich for the homeless guy. Do what you can do even if it’s just a smile towards someone. It’s time we stop segregating, not only black from white, but poor from rich, fat from skinny, homeless from mansions, republican from democrats, etc.

So now, with the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, it is a call to lay down our battle swords and the weapons of our words and come together to bring healing and unity in our “one nation under God”! We are called to unite as Americans. We need to take care of our families, take care of the poor, adopt children within our own country, and take care of our land. It’s time to allow those with incredible inventions, ideas and resources to let their voices be heard and let their inventions speak for themselves. Our planet needs healing. Our people need healing. Our government needs healing. Let’s bring healing and unity to our country. Again, this only begins to happen when the change takes place in you and I. 

We are Americans! We are the United States of America and not the Divided States of America. We all have what it takes to become a nation that genuinely acts like it is… “one nation under God”. 

It’s called unity!

A Prayer for Everyday

The World is Counting on Us!

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I have never been one to get deep into the political conversation. I prefer to just stay out of it because of the amount of tension, animosity and downright cruelty that seems to be in that arena. I believe we can all definitely have our political differences. That’s the beauty of our country. We have the greatest liberties of any country in the world.

There has been so much happening this year and to think that an election is just around the corner is kinda scary right now. I don’t know about you, but what I have seen experienced the last four years has driven me to be even more aware and more conscious of who is leading our country. I personally do not care for the current President, but I also don’t care for the one running for the office either. So, how do I vote? Do I vote for the popular candidate? Do I vote for Biden just because of what I think of Trump? Do I vote for Trump because of what I think of Biden? Do I vote for the one who fights against abortion and same sex marriage or the one that believes there is freedom of choice? Do I vote for acknowledgment in climate change or not? Do I vote for the one that fritters about the notion that COVID-19 is a hoax? Do I vote for the one that is taking it seriously and wears a mask, not worrying about his image? Do I vote for the one that is sincerely trying to connect with American people? The one that has said there is a better way than the last four years we have all experienced? There is so much that goes into voting for someone. I have never been more serious about it than I am this year.

It doesn’t matter who is in office, there will always be a difference of beliefs and opinions. I don’t think there will ever be someone in the office of President that the people will agree with 100%. I’m not saying who I will be voting for, but there is a lot to process and think about. I have to ask myself, who would I want my children and grandchildren to see as a leader as an example of American patriotism, for the people and not themselves? You might say one and I might say the other. That’s the way it goes.

What I can say is, I certainly have not enjoyed the last four years. The slander, the cynicism, the cruel words thrown around and aimed at individuals. How about the lack of concern about a pandemic that has ravaged the world, the laze-de-faire or cavalier attitude going from a world leader that has hurt so many people that have lost loved ones to this disease? Now, will the next guy be any better? Only God knows! Biden will definitely have his ways and his weaknesses that will show up eventually.

We used to be a leading country in the world. A country that everyone wanted to be like. We were a model of democracy! We were a model of freedom, refuge and justice. Now we turn away those that have the deepest cry within them to come and find refuge and a life of liberty and pursuit of happiness. We cage children and send away their parents that are only trying to give a better life for their children. We have resorted to violence in place of the process for justice. We now have reason to take a life instead of trying to save it; i.e. George Floyd and others. Not to mention the countless abortions.

The protests and rioting that has plagued our cities this year have been a cry of “enough is enough”. Yet, this violence does nothing to solve the problem. Do we have a right to be angry? Hell yes! But if we could lay our anger aside and talk about the issues and come up with solutions instead of fighting, that would be the difference maker. We are too busy making sure our voice gets heard. When the loudness is quieted, the solution can be heard, because it’s the silent cry of the heart that is screaming within all of us to be heard!

I could keep going, but I just wanted to give what push I could to make sure you get out and vote, because our children and the immigrant children in cages are counting on us. The black communities in America are counting on us. The essential health workers are counting on us. The animals around the world are counting on us.

The world…is counting on our vote!

Respectfully,

Veronica

Someone to be the Greatest Love

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We all know how 2020 started! It started out with the promise! The slate had been cleared of all 2019’s mistakes and regrets. A new year always gives us fresh hope, new perspective, new goals and desires. At the end of that year we look back and we can see if we were successful with our goals, and if our perspective on life changed at all. Little did we know that the year 2020 would literally be “the year from hell”.

Now as we hit October 2020 we have seen this year our nation has been catapulted to a place we’ve never been before. I, as I’m sure you, can remember when COVID-19 hit. We watched it rapidly spread all over the world. We have had over a million deaths, but thank God, also several million recoveries. We have seen the world basically shut down. Businesses close, schools close, airlines grounded, unemployment skyrocketed, suicide rates have risen to an alarming amount, domestic abuse cases rose, teenagers going crazy at home being separated from friends and our essential workers exposed and taking great risk on a daily basis. We have had to set our personal opinions aside and follow the direction of our government leaders to help protect each one of us, while they navigated the murky waters of this virus.

Beyond the pandemic, we have seen more land burned in one year than any other year in history. As I write this, it stands at over 4 million acres. Our forests have continued to burn with more fires starting on a daily basis. Is it climate change or is it the failure of our federal and local governments to take care of our forests? It’s both!! Our firefighters are exhausted and we are tired of the destruction, tired of the loss of life. We are tired of the relentless smoky air that penetrates the lungs. The amount of lives, homes, businesses, and the beautiful wineries lost in the Napa Valley is devastating.

As if these were not bad enough, then we had the killing of George Floyd. This began the racial protests in cities around the country. The rise of violence increasing in these hot spots has our police on edge, because they are the ones being protested against. They have become the enemy instead of our protectors. Mothers and fathers have lost children, and children have lost fathers and mothers etc.

To top the year off, we have a presidential election happening. Oh my God, are you freaking serious? Need I say anymore?

Daily we ask ourselves, how much more can we take as people, and as a nation? The world is wracked with grief from this pandemic, and our nation is reeling from racial violence, social injustice, destructive wildfires, lockdowns and a presidential election in the midst of a reign of chaos.

What do we do? How do we become a conduit of change? How can we continue in this seemingly never-ending chaos?

I suggest we look at the bigger picture, but yet a more refined picture. We see the world and what is currently happening. How many of us, stop and look at ourselves? I don’t mean look at what suffering we are going through and what is against us, etc. But, let us look at what who we are!

Deep down, in our true being, beyond our surface and superficiality, we are resilient people. We are strong. We are fighters. We are determined. We have all been victims of something, but we are also survivors. We are passionate. We are compassionate. We are people that care. We are a benevolent people. We are a people that know how to rise from devastation. We are a people that can rise above the destruction, the lofty ideals of mans ego, and rise above the chaos and know that this, too, shall pass. Why? Because we were all born to love. Yes, we can love those that disagree with us. We can love those that cause the violence, devastation and destruction.

My heart breaks for this country. For my grandchildren! What is the world going to be like when they become adults? This is my greatest fear right now. Will they have the freedoms we have now? Will this nation succumb to control? Will this nation stop caring about the climate, our forests, our poor and homeless etc.? There is much to be done to leave this world to our grandchildren in a much better place than it is now.

The only way to begin again is…to love!

To end this, I leave you with a few words from a song by James Blunt, The Greatest. These words are for our children and their children after them. But also, those of us who are still alive and kicking, well, it’s for us as well!

Be the young, the brave, the powerful

‘Cause the world is standing waiting

For someone to come and change it

Be the young, the brave, the powerful

‘Cause we need a soul to save us

We need someone to be the greatest love