Most of us (hopefully) will be casting “off-year” election ballots soon. I wish politics were a noncontact sport, yet there are still those aberrant personalities who may seek to sow seeds of fear and loathing – like someone who would send envelopes of sugar or similar to a government office, just to (a) watch a “fun” evacuation, or (b) to encourage votes for a so-called “security” ticket or candidate. Ben Franklin said it best when he stated that those who would sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither. And please keep in mind that no one has a patent on the “truth.” Our country has voted in the recent past as though the dominant desire was to keep some kind of party (not a political one) going. The one we cannot lie to is the one in the mirror. This may be an important time for all of us to take a quiet half hour in a closet, reflecting on who we really are and what we really would rather see happening in our country for the next two years or even twenty. We cannot reach the past, but we live with it. And if we are subject to crass manipulation, then we really do deserve the government we get, as Dwight Eisenhower warned. Just remember: labels limit, and not everything needs to be “winner take all.” Absolutes are statistically anomalous; we should conduct our lives according to what is relative.

giwan@du.edu