Your Worth is Still the Same

This has been an interesting week in the world of social media. The most obvious and all-consuming topic is of course the election of Donald Trump, and as predicted, chaos has ensued. This doesn't really surprise me but one sentiment I have noticed from time to time has been particularly concerning to me - a notion that parents now have to explain to their daughters that they are worth less now than they were on Tuesday.

Not sure if this is overdramatized for maximum effect, but if it is just know - a woman's, or man's, worth is never dependent on what is going on around them. They are always of immense worth, infinite even. If someone is hurting you, your actual worth is not diminished. As a child of our Heavenly Father, that cannot be changed. Life is never going to be perfect. I'm a woman, too. People are concerned about who Donald Trump is but no matter who you are, if you support him or no, that doesn't make you suddenly less. Be YOU. Have confidence in who you are - and that is a beloved and infinitely valuable. Don't forget that. Let's go forward with optimism and faith! People are going to disappoint you, that will never change, but let's lift where we stand, even if it is lifting ourselves.

Where Have All the Good Men and Women Gone?

In just a few short weeks, America will face the polls to choose the next president. Unfortunately, the pickings are slim and formerly good leaders are falling in lock and step behind our two biggest candidates, instead of standing up and encouraging us to turn our backs on them. A select number of Republican candidates have stood up and spoken out against Trump after having formerly supported him, which is a positive. However, only a few have said they would never support him, such as Mitt Romney, and truthfully that’s the way we all should have been from the beginning.

I think I understand some of the motivation surrounding the begrudging support conservative leaders continue to give Trump – altruistically, it may be that they see no other option, as Hillary Clinton definitely doesn’t stand for what they do. I have heard reasons such as the next president will appoint new Supreme Court Justices, which I agree puts a lot a stake for either side. Trump might have a platform that says he stands for Conservative ideals, but who he is has been shown to be far from the image of integrity and true leadership than right wing voters have been looking for. Why did it get this far? And why are more people in positions of leadership not encouraging the country to vote for someone who they can actually trust, whom we don’t have to do mental gymnastics to defend?

With Hillary, it’s not much different. Although my politics are not left wing, I can see that as a person she has some real deficiencies that should not be overlooked. These are easy to find, and it goes above and beyond recent years of politics, but back to when her husband was president. I am not putting his faults on her – she has a track record that is not worthy of the highest office in the land. And yet there she stands, the standard bearer of the liberal side, giving the liberals a bad option, just as the conservatives have in Trump.

 I ask, where have all the good men and women gone? Where are true leaders, with wisdom and integrity and goodness? Why can’t we say no to following along with the wrong people? Why did we vote them in as our candidates in the first place? We see, we hear the things they do – their incompetence is so blatantly obvious that maybe it’s become par for the course to accept it. It’s sad to watch. Don’t we deserve a true leader? A leader, not a dictator or a person who lies to our face with a sly smile, waiting for us to give them a pass on the shenanigans they fail to acknowledge, or pretend to acknowledge, then move on to the next lie. We as a people are smarter than this but is it fear that causes us to stand up and say no? If we aren’t the gatekeepers, barring the unworthy politicians and nonpoliticians alike to enter the White House, who will be? We are the voters. We must be more responsible in who we allow to be our standard bearer. Trump and Clinton certainly do not represent me. And I won’t follow either of them. Will you?