#2016lovewars

We are getting closer to the November presidential elections.

This scares me.

I'm not going to endorse any of the candidates. I just want to talk to everyone about how to go about choosing. Elections are serious business. Your vote DOES count.

1.  Stop reading the news. Or keep reading the news but fact check the stories. The major news outlets tend to give us just snapshots of events that don't tell the whole story. They also tend to give us stories that are unrelated, yet more reader friendly, so as to divert attention from the stories that don't jive with their philosophies.

2.  Think for yourself. Just because your favorite pop star or celebrity endorses a candidate doesn't mean they share your same values or thoughts.

3.  Vote the issues. Don't vote the candidates personality. Don't vote the party. Do a chart of where each candidate stands on issues (including candidates from the secondary parties) and see which one aligns with what is important to you. This little exercise may surprise you.

4.  Consider candidates that will do the following:

  Keep us safe from outside forces (ie global terrorism)

  Keep us safe from domestic threats

  Keep us safe from forces that threaten our ideals as a nation

  Appoint Supreme Court Justices that align with your thinking on social issues. Some of these folks are getting pretty old!

  Find a way to unite our polarized nation. I have never seen it so divided. 

5.   Remember to keep in mind that we need a leader who is for the whole. Again, we get distracted by individual incidents. Let's elect someone who will go to the root of those problems so as to further conversation on healing versus laying blame.

6.  Do your research. Vote on facts, not on rumors.

7.  It's easy to vote the emotional vote. But it is wrong to vote that way. Vote your beliefs. Vote the issues. Vote on who you think will be best for the country.

Teach your children to love and accept everyone. Teach them similarities while celebrating uniqueness, individuality, and cultures.

We are in a catch 22 right now. I raised my child to love people - individual people - based on their kindness and whether they were fun to hang around with. He looks at POC no differently than he does his red headed friend. That's just what they look like. BUT...

Media has propagated our differences and has created a divide between us.  

Stop looking to the media for answers. Judge only the people you know. If there is a problem in your community then FIX IT. Gangs? bad cops? Poor schools? WE are part of these communities. They belong to us. Let's fix them!

75+ dead in Nice, France as truck loaded with weapons plows into crowd after Bastille Day fireworks show.