Election Day: Plus One

Today is a big day. I know that we make that statement every election day, and, of course, every election day is a big day. But this year, it feels bigger, more important, more critical. Maybe it feels that way, at least to me, because we are fighting wars on at least two fronts abroad. Maybe it feels that way because of the global financial meltdown. Maybe it is because of heightened tensions and even a little “saber-rattling” with Russia. Maybe it is because we don’t seem to have a clear plan, much less the resolve, to lead more environmentally-sensitive and responsible lives. Maybe it is because our political process seems ever more acrimonious and divided. Maybe it is because we seem to have lost some momentum and hope as a country since 9/11.

It is a big day, no doubt about it. But tomorrow may be—Election Day: Plus One—an even bigger day. Let me explain, or rather, let me share a prayer. Tomorrow I am hoping and praying that if Senator McCain wins that he will call Senator Obama, or that if Senator Obama wins that he will call Senator McCain. I know that both of them will have a great deal to do tomorrow and many phone calls to make, but, again, I hope and pray that one of their first calls, and perhaps the most important call, will be to each other. And I hope and pray that that call isn’t just a courtesy call, done out of formality. No, I hope it is a substantive call, a call for help, a call to mend the fences and come together and cooperate and find common ground and a pledge to do all each one of them can do - individually and as partners - to move this country forward, to move away from fear and anxiety, to join forces as they provide leadership and vision. The election will be over, so let the fighting stop. The votes will have been counted, so let us count on both of them to help this nation, and it will take a bi-partisan approach. The winner will have been declared, but tomorrow will be the time to move beyond winners and losers to seek the ways and means for all of us to win and fix and expand and cooperate together. In fact, if we stay with the winners and losers format, we will all be losers. We will lose as a nation, and the world will also be worse off in the absence of our leadership.

Beyond your hope for whoever you are voting for today, I hope that you will join me in praying for whoever is elected. Across this land tomorrow will be a day to take down our signs supporting one particular candidate or party. Instead of having someone’s name emblazoned in our front yards imagine if we had signs with a dream or desire that we might have for the people of this land: Hope, Courage, Vision, Sanity, Peace, Abundance, Faith, Trust, Integrity, Justice, Progress. Now, that would be something to behold. Not names, but dreams.

I have cast my vote—I did it at Fiesta last week and I had many good and interesting conversations as I stood in line. Across party lines and waiting lines we spoke and shared and joked and hoped. It was a great moment that made me proud and thankful to be an American.

I hope that you would join me in praying on Election Day: Plus One. That you would commit to praying that whoever wins this election will reach out to the one who received fewer votes so that both parties can find some reconciliation, some common cause for the good of all, and some common vision that together they can once more lead this land, this country, this people to a better and brighter and stronger future, not only for our own sake but the sake of all the world.