100th post -- back to the basics

It's an election year, and that just throws a wrench in everything. Even without an economic crisis on our hands, people get paranoid about their spending, the job market slows, and discussions about partial birth abortion and the sanctity of marriage become more prevalent and louder in volume.

We find ourselves divided on the issues, some willing to discuss more than others. I hear the word party a lot, but it's Republican or Democrat, not the kind of party that calls for a cute invitation and matching napkins.

Even ChellBell's second grade class has gotten in on the action. They had an election at school earlier this week. Nervously, I asked Chell who she voted for. Her exact answer -- "I can't remember the man's name, but it was the normal name. And there was a girl named Sarah, and since I have a friend named Sarah, that's who I voted for." Not that I can disagree with her choice, but the logic... Well, her thought process is probably along the same lines as some voting Americans. Thank goodness we have no friends named Obama.

Definitely some humor has emerged during the whole thing. Like my friend Mike's classic words on Facebook a couple of weeks back -- "With women like Cindy McCain and Sarah Palin, the Republican party should change their mascot to a fox."

ChellBell and I had a hypothetical discussion last night about what we would do if we were President. Here's our collective list of things we would change (you can decide for yourself who came up with each thing). We would:

- Make the school lunch menu better by adding salmon and twinkies

- Insist that the Quarter Pounder return to McDonald's menu, instead of just having the Quarter Pounder with Cheese and making those of us who don't eat cheese pay the with-cheese price

-Get a new Accountant for the country who did not believe that debt, especially to the tune of $3 trillion, is somehow okay for America

- Distribute American Girl dolls to every little girl in America and in the poor countries where the children have no toys

- Make a law that if you paid to drive on a road (i.e. every major highway in North Dallas), then a cop is not allowed to pull you over and give you a ticket

We also decided that we would make laws that say no mean kids could play on the playground, and that people must be nice to each other, and that no parents could hurt their kids.

And as ChellBell, our great 7-year old philosopher put it, "Mom, can the President make a law that everyone should just love each other?"

Wouldn't it be great if that was the core issue? If platforms were based on loving each other and doing the right thing for each other. Plain and simple. I know it will never be that simple in politics -- we have to have lobbyists and filibusters and pork barrel spending. But life really is that simple. Through right and wrong, right and left, same or different. We need to love.

I was with a great group of ladies last night who reminded me that we haven't walked in anyone else's shoes but our own. We can look out at the world around us and see that there are people who definitely live life differently than we would, with different choices. But their shoes are different from ours. And their walk of life is different. So they come at things with a different perspective, and sometimes different wounds or different motivators.

Not that we ever have to waver on what we know to be right and wrong. But you can still love people in their rightness and wrongness. And typically the people we are quick to judge because of their "bad choices" are the ones who need to be loved the most.

Perhaps my seven year old should be the write-in candidate this year. I guarantee she'd bring things back to the basics.

At least everyone would have an American Girl Doll.