“It’s the end of the world as we know it…”
– Lyric from R.E.M.’s “It’s The End of The World”
“Over? Nothing is over until WE say it is.”
– John “Bluto” Blutarsky (John Belushi), in the final scene of “Animal House”
Wednesday morning, when America wakes up, close to 50% (heck, maybe more than 50%!) of the people will want to sing this lyric from REM, but likely without the hook — “and I feel fine.”
In our society, in these divisive times and especially in this 48-hour period during which we’ll elect our next President, there is a lot more “end of world” sentiment than there is “I feel fine” sentiment.
More on that whole election angle in a second…
In general, we are led to believe that every little thing is a big danged thing. But it’s not. As Dr. Graf reminds us, in the most frequently used Daily Diff quotation: “Most things in life aren’t good or bad, right or wrong; most things just are.” The end of the world? Prolly not. “I’ll get fired if I don’t win this deal?” Prolly not. “We’ll be out of business if…?” Prolly not.
As individuals, as difference makers, all we can do in every instance is our best. We ought to challenge ourselves to be continuously improving and we ought to make sure that our best, tomorrow, is better than our best was today. All we can do is the best that we can do.
So, back to the election…sigh.
I’m not sure there will be any “winners” in any sense of what “winning” has come to mean to me over the years. Not sure that the authors of the Constitution or the drafters of the Declaration would be very happy with or proud of us if this is the best we can offer. But I am sure that Bluto was right. (Ironically, in the closing credits we learn that John Blutarsky goes on to be a fictitious Senator…there’s a post just dying to be written…). Yep, the Honorable Senator from Illinois, John “Food Fight” Blutarsky, Bluto, is perhaps more right on this topic than any. When it comes to the Democratic Republic in which we live — when it comes to Capitalism and all the things that make people everywhere want to sneak across our borders to live in our mess — because it is SO much better than their messes — nothing is over until we say it is.
Dad always used to say, “If you don’t vote, you can’t bitch.” I like that. And what I like more is “fight for what you believe in. Stand for something or you’ll fall for anything. Make a difference.” Nothing is over until we say it is. And I don’t sense, even with the most divided population we’ve seen since the Civil War, that we say, think or feel that “it” is over. I’ll close with another lyric (this one from Semisonic) to further illustrate my point:
“Every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.”
If you haven’t already, vote. If you don’t already, volunteer for a cause. If you don’t already, read — a lot. If you don’t already, learn something new every day. If you don’t already, do something today that makes a difference for someone else. Because it’s not over, no matter what Tuesday brings.
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