Love Learn Lead November 10, 2016

On Tuesday night, like sportscasters tracking the plays of the Super Bowl, newscasters on every station sat at big fancy glass tables, and announced the election results state by state. But unlike the Super Bowl, this wasn’t a game.

The “winners” role can’t be limited to a celebratory Facebook post and wearing their team’s jersey for a week. Nor, can the “losers” just go home to lick their wounds, or pretend it didn’t happen. Because, whether we will admit it or not, we are all on the same team. It is clear we don’t all agree on how our country should be run, or what changes should be made. But we all want to see our country succeed.

For this reason, we can’t treat this election like some sporting event where we are either really happy or really angry for a few days, then move on. This is our future, so we can’t “move on.” We need to figure out how to best move forward. With that in mind, here are some Love Learn Lead reflections on the election.

Love

Before even getting out of bed Wednesday, I picked up my phone and started scrolling through Facebook and Twitter. In and amongst posts filled with fear, anger, and celebration, were a few posts that gave me hope.

People I know, and a few semi-famous people I follow, talked about how it is time to get back to work. They talked about how no matter how we feel about the election results, we are all still called to love our neighbor, the outcast, and the refugee. As powerful as the Presidential Office is, there are many good and important things we can do in our communities that a President can’t.

What good things can only you and your friends do for your town? For our country?

Learn

This election process has been the most stressful and exhausting that I can remember since being able to vote. But as I scrolled through the hopeful social media posts of my friends yesterday, I thought, “What if Donald and Hillary have given us an incredible gift?”

What if this trying election has woken us up? What if it has us asking like never before what we want our country to truly look like? What if Donald has challenged us to define what it means for our country to be great?

What if it is helping us learn that we have a role to play in our communities and in our country?

Like all historical moments, no matter where we stand, there are always things we can learn.

What have you learned from this election?

Lead

For me, the most disturbing part of this election, has been watching people on both sides give their candidate a “pass.” In other words, overlooking glaringly bad behavior in hopes that their leader will serve their interests. Over the years, I have worked with a few leaders who were given a “pass” for behavior that lacked integrity. What happened? People got hurt, and eventually those leaders were fired.

For years we have felt powerless when it comes to decisions made in Washington. Part of why we have felt that way is because we have believed that our voices don’t matter. But the foundation of our country rests on it’s citizens having a voice. We need to ask: