Four days after the Presidential election Joe Biden has been announced the winner. I made a brief speech asking for calm and assuring all that he intends to work for that entire country. That includes everyone, those who supported him as well as those who did not.

Donald Trump is claiming voter fraud and contradicting himself. Most of his supporters naturally, are following his lead. That’s what supporters do which is why dignified leaders who understand how our government works, matter.

It’s proven that the character of the president trickles down. Sociologists have tracked it. Having personally lived through the transfer of power between radically different personality types, (President Carter to President Reagan comes to mind), I saw the changes in social climate in our country. It was definitive. More recently, with the change in personalities from president Obama to Trump we experienced a clear change in social demeanor, attitudes and behaviors toward each other. The social climate of America will change again and Joe Biden is a great person to change it. His proven track record of dignified behavior can set an example of courage in the face of adversity. The potential for healing is good looking at Joe Biden’s record of effective, non-confrontational communication with people of differing points of view. He can’t help but be a positive effect on America, simply by being an example of gracious, dignified behavior.

I hope folks who say the transition of power will be terrible will understand that it doesn’t have to be terrible if THEY don’t make it so.

In 1976, I married a black man (in Alabama!) only a few years after the civil rights law was passed. When people said

“But You will have a terrible life! People will reject you. People will reject your children. People will make life difficult for you.”
I always asked “What people? You?”

Often, people that project gloom and doom are unconsciously the perpetuators of the very gloom and doom they predict. Perhaps better than predictions based on what was would be a commitment to not participating in the attitude that created the animosity they predict.

There is a formula for progress, solving problems, bridging gaps, mending wounded egos. It’s called diplomacy; remain non confrontational and focus on the objective of making progress. Not everyone is equipped to for it. Fortunately, Joe Biden is.

We all want what’s best for the country, with different ideas of what will make that happen. Too many of us have forgotten that while our personal opinion matters, so does everyone else’s. We accept that brain surgery requires knowledge and experience beyond our every day experience but have forgotten that so does navigating the workings of government in a country as large and diverse as ours. It’s no small feat to represent and accommodate the variety of cultures, needs and communication styles in the gigantic melting pot we call America. We know, in theory that our differences are not only ok but what makes us great. We all say it, all the time. It’s become rhetoric but do we believe it or are we just talking the talk? Do we walk the walk when those differences manifest themselves, threatening to make us compromise?

We don’t need to agree on the definition of happiness to accept someone else’s. Great theory but can we accept that a different life experience results in a different point of view, equally as valid as our own?

There’s no place with the gloating now. Gloating is as almost as bad as refusing to graciously accept defeat.
This is not the time for either.