Ticking

 We have an election coming up. The vast numbers of people with whom I speak on a regular basis have already voted, This means we are all stuck in a place not unlike kids on Christmas Eve, anxiously awaiting the moment that we have been anticipating for months. Years. It's going to happen, but no one is exactly sure how it will all turn out. 

The surprises that await are not necessarily the pleasant kind. A little like the interaction that I had with a friend I haven't spoken to in quite a while. Not about politics anyway. We're both dads and we work hard and we commiserate on that level freely. But when the topic of "next Tuesday" came up, I learned more about how he felt.

"What do you think Joe Biden's going to do for you?" he asked.

At first, I was slow to react, attempting to gauge his sincerity. Was he putting me on?

"What about the economy, my friend?" And that last twist let me know that we were off and running on an actual debate. Not just launching platitudes and sound bites, but discussing the issues that affect us both on a daily basis. Dads. Husbands. Working men. I chose what I figured was some low hanging fruit, like the wall on our southern border and its relative effectiveness. Or lack thereof. He was calm and satisfied with the way that had been handled. He was glad that "at least he's making an effort." This came as a bit of a shock to me, coming from a man who was born and raised in Guatemala, but the more I listened, the more I understood. This was a guy who has not been given a free pass to anything, and he doesn't believe that anyone else should either. He wants the best for his family. That's his bottom line.

And he firmly believes that Donald Trump will deliver that.

Or at least he believes that Donald Trump will come as close as anyone else. 

My initial reaction was to recoil, but then I realized we had this safe space for me to speak my own mind. I told him that my bleeding heart is what brought me to public education and that I wanted a chance to help everyone that I could, including my family. I could not relate directly to the hard way he had climbed up the ladder, but I told him that I believed we should make it easier for everyone to have the chances that he took. No one should have to be afraid. Not afraid to try. Not afraid to fail. We can build a bigger net to catch the people who are falling, and build them up to a level where they can start doing the same for those around them. That is the ideal of America, and I was proud to know him and the way he achieved his dreams. 

Because I believe it is time for this nightmare to end.