Nov 8

Peony for President

Sometimes I like to live in this blissful little bubble filled with peonies and silk ribbons.  I like the stare at the autumn leaves and think that the pending winter season should be the biggest worry on my mind.  And that quickly turns my thoughts to roaring fires and big fluffy snowflakes gracefully making their way to the ground.  The world can be a really beautiful place.

Peony for President | The Day's Design | Samantha James Photography

Photography: Samantha James Photography

A quick shot of reality will remind me that life isn’t all chiffon streamers, brass candlesticks and Chantilly lace.  Flowers don’t fill everyone’s world.  And this election has surfaced a whole bunch of ugly around us.

There’s a lot of banter out there regarding who one should be voting for.  I’m not here to share my political views.  I’ve never considered myself political whatsoever, even though I do have strong opinions on certain matters.  I’m not going to stand on a soapbox and preach about voting one way or another.  I have my morals and values and in the end, only one candidate even remotely aligns with those.

I feel like this election has surfaced a lot of judgement and nasty comments on both sides.  There’s a huge push to get us all to the poles and exercise the right we have to vote.  But there’s another right that we all have – and we didn’t have to fight wars or preach of equal rights to earn it.  It’s the right to love one another.

That’s not to be misinterpretted as marriage equality or romance or any of those topics that I’m not chatting about today, but rather the command given to us all “Love your neighbor as yourself.” [Mark 12:31] What if we all stopping judging one another’s ideas, tastes and opinions and just loved.  We could love the widows and the orphans, the seniors and young, the rich and the homeless, the sinners and those who sin a little less.  Loving means the end of anger and hate.  It doesn’t mean we have to agree with everyone but showing compassion to their point of view and humbling ourselves would be a good start. Go vote and then love your neighbor unconditionally, regardless of what his yard sign says.

I don’t have control over who ultimately wins this election.  But I do have control over my own actions – actions I took to voice my opinion by voting and then how I react regardless of the outcome.  I can do my small part to make this world a more beautiful and loving place. I maintain my position that the peony is one of the most beloved and agreeable flowers.  I’m voting peony for president.

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