It is wonderful, encouraging and comforting to read your thoughts. I agree and appreciate your recognizing the frailty (kindness is important) of our society. The juxtaposition of the election and Halloween is real and concerning. And sadly, I am with you on our choices for president. Integrity is perhaps more important than I have observed the extravagant displays now for Halloween. Crazy is not sufficient. Post-Christian also doesn't get it. We are a society obsessed (abscessed?) with celebration. I like your expression of "flirting" with the dark side. I have an friend who wears a skeleton suit and jumps out of the bushes to scare kids. Not a good idea but he can't hear that right now.
Yeah, it’s an odd thing. I feel like a bit of a crank criticizing Halloween—and maybe I am, haha—but I also sincerely think it’s not worth this ever-rising celebration. A little trick-or-treating with some pumpkins is a very different beast from entire front yard covered in fake gore. A friend who has worked with refugees and other new immigrants says they tend to find it very strange, and I think that instinct is more than culture shock.
"I don’t want Kamala Harris to win. I do want Donald Trump to lose."
I’m going to expand on that thought as well. Our pastor shared with us what he felt were 5 principles that should inform our voting, eventually concluding that the election was choosing between the lesser of two evils, and we have to vote. While understanding that the phrase is idiomatic, it does exemplify a moral dilemma this election poses. I appreciate how your statement captures the essence of that dilemma.
Yeah, I refrained from sharing the whole thing, but that essay captures well where I am on voting for president this year. I understand this notion that you're supposed to sort of do the math and vote for the person with the better score according to your metric, even if both get failing grades.
But I just don't think the calculation itself is legitimate -- and it's all speculative anyway! Like, "Oh, I think maybe Candidate X is more likely to invade Iran but Candidate Y might get us into a hot war with Russia, so maybe it's an extra million dead with X and 2 million with Y, so ... " I just can't and won't give someone my support on that basis.
It is wonderful, encouraging and comforting to read your thoughts. I agree and appreciate your recognizing the frailty (kindness is important) of our society. The juxtaposition of the election and Halloween is real and concerning. And sadly, I am with you on our choices for president. Integrity is perhaps more important than I have observed the extravagant displays now for Halloween. Crazy is not sufficient. Post-Christian also doesn't get it. We are a society obsessed (abscessed?) with celebration. I like your expression of "flirting" with the dark side. I have an friend who wears a skeleton suit and jumps out of the bushes to scare kids. Not a good idea but he can't hear that right now.
Yeah, it’s an odd thing. I feel like a bit of a crank criticizing Halloween—and maybe I am, haha—but I also sincerely think it’s not worth this ever-rising celebration. A little trick-or-treating with some pumpkins is a very different beast from entire front yard covered in fake gore. A friend who has worked with refugees and other new immigrants says they tend to find it very strange, and I think that instinct is more than culture shock.
"I don’t want Kamala Harris to win. I do want Donald Trump to lose."
Same for me this year, with Biden in 2020, and with Clinton in 2016.
"I don’t want Kamala Harris to win. I do want Donald Trump to lose."
I’m going to expand on that thought as well. Our pastor shared with us what he felt were 5 principles that should inform our voting, eventually concluding that the election was choosing between the lesser of two evils, and we have to vote. While understanding that the phrase is idiomatic, it does exemplify a moral dilemma this election poses. I appreciate how your statement captures the essence of that dilemma.
Yeah, I refrained from sharing the whole thing, but that essay captures well where I am on voting for president this year. I understand this notion that you're supposed to sort of do the math and vote for the person with the better score according to your metric, even if both get failing grades.
But I just don't think the calculation itself is legitimate -- and it's all speculative anyway! Like, "Oh, I think maybe Candidate X is more likely to invade Iran but Candidate Y might get us into a hot war with Russia, so maybe it's an extra million dead with X and 2 million with Y, so ... " I just can't and won't give someone my support on that basis.