Holding My Breath

Day 7
Mood: Worried

It's election night. So I'm sitting here waiting for the returns to start coming in. I'd love to write something witty or incisive about the elections or the candidates for office, but frankly I'm just too concerned about the outcome to do much else than hit refresh on the CNN website.

You can't swing a yard sign in the DC metro area without smacking an idiot who will tell you just how powerful they are. It could be very easy to get drawn into the mutual masturbation that goes on regularly in this town, but then you must always be looking over your shoulder to make sure someone with better technique isn't trying to cut in. I realized early on that I just couldn't take that kind of performance pressure. It's no wonder Bob Dole started hocking Viagra.

When you're around all this self-importance it's very easy to think that the fate of the world is determined by what happens in the 61 or so square miles that make up the District of Columbia. I resist that temptation as best I can. I know there is a whole world outside the beltway and many people who never give a second thought to who their elected representatives are or the decisions those legislators make.

But today...I just can't maintain that perspective.

The war in Iraq, the rise in nuclear capabilities of unfriendly nations, an ever-increasing debt, prohibitions on life-saving research, attacks on self-determination and oh yeah the fuck nut some folks thought would be great to lead our country after proving that he could lead every business he touched into the ground...all of these things have me a bit worried.

If it were just me, heck I could go live somewhere else. I could keep my head down and just live under the radar screen. But what kind of world are we leaving for our children? As I tuck my three angels into bed at night, I worry. And I'm sitting here now praying (and I'm not a religious person) that others are feeling the way I do. I'm hoping that these elections will offer some hope for a change in the direction we're heading. I need something to hold on to.