If you’re anything like me, you just want it to be over. The drama. The uncertainty. The seemingly endless stream of carefully crafted direct mail pieces meant to entice and draw you in. The swirl of competing and conflicting opinions. The hype and hyperbole. To say nothing of the anxiety. Uggh – the anxiety. Please, just make it end.
No, I’m not talking about the college search and application process. I’m talking about the 2016 Presidential election.
In light of recent events I have decided to take a break from the stated focus of this blog – helping current and prospective college students and their families successfully navigate the college experience – to reflect on my experience in trying to find solace, comfort, and even inspiration in the midst of what has been a spectacularly ugly, uncivil, and dispiriting exercise in American democracy.
I’m not proud to admit that throughout this election I have far too frequently allowed myself to get sucked into the folly of believing that paying close attention to the daily twists and turns will be a good thing. I find myself almost pathologically scrolling through my Facebook news feed and flipping between cable news channels in search of something – anything – to reassure me that Armageddon is not at hand and justice will prevail. For me, it turns out, the answers can’t be found on social media or entertainment news programs.
Rather, in moments of unrest and profound existential crisis, proud former English major and unapologetic humanist that I am, I tend to look to literature and philosophy and art and music. Expressions of who we are and what connects us and carries us forward.
Over the past few days I have found myself turning to the well-worn volume of essays from NPR’s This I Believe series that I keep on my bedside table. This odd and eclectic collection of succinct personal philosophies provide perspective and fortitude, and serve to reaffirm my belief in the essential goodness of people; and our ability to come together as a nation.
So, at this moment when the cultural fabric of our country seems to be threadbare and fraying, I thought I would share a sampling of the wisdom and guidance I have recently found in the words of Edward R. Murrow, Jackie Robinson, Leonard Bernstein and others. Below are a few brief excerpts of several This I Believe essays that strike me as particularly appropriate to the moment. (Note: the highlighted titles are hyperlinks to each of the full essays.)
“We hardly need to be reminded that we are living in an age of confusion—a lot of us have traded in our beliefs for bitterness and cynicism or for a heavy package of despair, or even a quivering portion of hysteria. Opinions can be picked up cheap in the market place while such commodities as courage and fortitude and faith are in alarmingly short supply…. This reporter’s beliefs are in a state of flux. It would be easier to enumerate the items I do not believe in, than the other way around. And yet in talking to people, in listening to them, I have come to realize that I don’t have a monopoly on the world’s problems. Others have their share, often far bigger than mine. This has helped me to see my own in truer perspective: and in learning how others have faced their problems–this has given me fresh ideas about how to tackle mine.” -Edward R. Murrow, Introduction to This I Believe Radio Series, 1951
“I believe in the human race. I believe in the warm heart. I believe in man’s integrity. I believe in the goodness of a free society. And I believe that the society can remain good only as long as we are willing to fight for it — and to fight against whatever imperfections may exist.” – Jackie Robinson, Free Minds and Hearts at Work, 1952
“I believe in a country that enshrines [life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness], a country that promises nothing but the promise of being more fully human, and never guarantees its success. In that constant failure to arrive — implied at the very beginning — lies the possibility of a permanently fresh start, an old newness, a way of revitalizing ourselves and our civilization in ways few foresaw and one day many will forget. But the point is now. And the place is America.” -Andrew Sullivan, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, 2005
“We live in a world where the forces that seek to divide us are strong. To overcome them, we must do more than simply stand next to one another in silence…. I realize now that to believe in pluralism means I need the courage to act on it. Action is what separates a belief from an opinion. Beliefs are imprinted through actions. In the words of the great American poet Gwendolyn Brooks: “We are each other’s business; we are each other’s harvest; we are each other’s magnitude and bond.” -Ebo Patel, We Are Each Other’s Business, 2005
“I believe that [America] is at a critical point in this moment, and that she needs us to believe more strongly than ever before, in her and in one another, in our ability to grow and change, in our mutual dignity, in our democratic method. We must encourage thought, free and creative. We must respect privacy. We must observe taste by not exploiting our sorrows, successes, or passions. We must learn to know ourselves better through art. We must rely more on the unconscious, inspirational side of man. We must not enslave ourselves to dogma. We must believe in the attainability of good. We must believe, without fear, in people.” – Leonard Bernstein, The Mountain Disappears, 1950’s
“If I have one operating philosophy about life it is this: ‘Be cool to the pizza delivery dude; it’s good luck.’… Coolness to the pizza delivery dude is a practice in equality. My measurement as a human being, my worth, is the pride I take in performing my job — any job — and the respect with which I treat others. I am the equal of the world not because of the car I drive, the size of the TV I own, the weight I can bench press, or the calculus equations I can solve. I am the equal to all I meet because of the kindness in my heart.” Sarah Adams, Be Cool to the Pizza Dude, 2005
I hope that you may find something uplifting in one or more of these wonderful essays. Goodness knows with the tenor the 2016 Presidential election has taken, we all need and deserve some lifting up. So, just in case the essays don’t do it for you, here’s something that is sure to make your day a little brighter as you head to the polls to vote.
