Last week I opened my ballot. I casually glanced through it, perusing the lists of policies and politicians to see which names I needed to research before voting.
Then I saw the presidential candidates, and my heart sank.
Voting for president is something I’d been looking forward to for many years. It was something my little-kid brain always thought would signify the real moment of becoming an adult. Somehow voting for president always seemed so mature and, well, old.
And now here I am, and I suddenly realize that voting is not glamorous. It’s not exciting. It’s boring and feels deceptively meaningless. I dutifully filled in the bubble of who I believe will best serve my country… but deep down I know this world will never be free of pain, no matter who becomes president.
You see, what I didn’t understand as a child was this: it’s not the government’s job to make the world perfect. Sure, the government can help, but it simply cannot make the world flawless, no matter who is in control.
Healing the world takes so much more than a president. It takes so much more than a Speaker of the House. It takes so much more than a Secretary of State. It takes so much more than your State Representative.
It takes you.
It takes me.
But, even together, we’re not enough to perfect the world, because we’re both part of the mess.
This election season, I am reminded more powerfully than ever that we live in a tension between this life and our eternal home. We are creatures, created to be in community with the Divine. We innately long for peace and perfection – for joy and for grace. For love.
You see, you and me together aren’t enough to fix the world because we’re broken and our love is flawed. Neither Trump nor Hillary can fix the world because they’re both broken. No human can fix the world, no matter how many humans you put together, because all humans are broken and in need of the healing we’re trying to bring about. We're all searching for the same things, because none of us have found any human who can provide what we need.
However, that doesn’t mean you, as a human, are not crucial to changing the world. Humans are an absolute necessity. But they’re not the only necessity: It takes humans plus love. It takes humans plus Christ. It takes humans plus heaven. It takes humans plus joy. It takes humans plus holiness.
Honestly, it takes God… plus you.
And that hit me so hard as I stared at my ballot last week, contemplating the demoralizing options before me. I sat and thought, “How can this be it? How can this be who we’ve nominated to lead us?” Then I remembered that the president is not a savior. The president is a human. Like me. Like you. It’s simply who we all are.
If I want the world to improve, my first step is to connect myself to the source of all Love and Goodness, and then proceed to selflessly love and serve the people around me - to let the Divine Creator work his plan with and through me. It’s the only way humans can truly change the world.
It’s simultaneously beautiful, terrifying and infinitely hopeful. No matter what the outcome is of this frightening election, my task is clear: Love the Lord my God with all my heart, soul, strength and mind, and love my neighbor as myself.
Then, and only then, will the world see the change it longs for.
