2 Days Before the Election

It’s just two days before the 2024 presidential election. The nation is sorely divided; many are anxious, frightened even, about the outcome. Sides have been drawn in stark, severe contrast to one another, spawning a troubling rendition of them versus us. Family members and neighbors, co-workers and teachers, people we interact with daily, have inadvertently become enemies, not unlike a foreign power determined to decimate our homeland. In some respects, our fears are not unfounded. Democracy is at stake. Nevertheless, to view opponents of our personal viewpoint as a vast herd of impersonalized, indistinct monsters, can foster a lapse in judgment.

Traditionally the moon “rules the night”—but there it was, full and bright in the morning sky as I returned home from my circuit training exercises in the next town over. It was so pretty I had to stop and take a picture. Its presence stayed with me, nudging me toward something I couldn’t put my finger on in the moment. Then it was the weekend, and I was off to visit a friend in another county, to help her pack for her move to yet a different county. Only recently has that vision of the pale ruler of the night returned to me, quietly illuminating my senses.

I am used to seeing the moon at night. I relish when its largeness catches in darkening trees, luminous and golden. I still smile when it scratches at the night sky with only the tip of a fingernail, like my oldest daughter delightfully observed as a child. I’m charmed when a waxing crescent moon appears below the shining lights of Jupiter and Venus. So, when a full moon graces a clear blue morning sky, my heart awakens. Its somewhat atypical presence mandates acknowledgment that light can steal darkness (twilight) and the moon is not relegated to the hours before sunrise.

My next-door neighbor will undoubtedly cast his vote in opposition to mine. Nevertheless, I heard him this morning in his backyard with his little granddaughter. Their exchange was delightful. He is obviously over-the-moon in love with her fetching playfulness, and her voice undeniably declares he’s a favorite in her life.

So, though I am anxious, even frightened, about the outcome of this election, I am also anchored in the surety that most everyday Americans want what is best for our country. They will vote their conscience, and I will continue to enjoy the moon in whatever state it appears, night or daytime.