A week from now

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Trees on our property that won't bow to the wishes of the stars. Photo by my husband.

The Big Dipper and the rest of the stars near it will have moved further westward in the sky. That was the first thing I considered when I peered out the living room window this morning, noting how far westward that constellation has veered. Just a couple of months ago, it was much further eastward, yet I can still see it, twinkling over the treeline as though it told the Redwoods to get out of the way.

Deep breath taken; that's not the only thing to consider, but maybe it's better to start this post with musings about natural phenomena than, well.... Politics isn't even the way to describe the state of America's electoral process. And honestly, I won't delve deeply into what might occur, in that actually in a week all that will definitely happen is advertising won't feature this or that candidate or proposition. In one week, that will have ended.

What comes next is.... Nothing I can fathom at this juncture, so you might ask, "Well then, why bring this up?" Because first I saw those stars, having moved from where I used to see them at unsightly hours of the morning (5 a.m. today, not a bad night's sleep for me). Then I thought about the election. Yet the stars not only emerged first in my mind but have been shining for THOUSANDS of years, ahem. Those stars will outlive, or outshine, every single person breathing on this planet today, 'nuff said. And despite all the cruelties, horrors, outrages, and nefarious schemes that have come and gone in the last millennia, those very stars will continue to twinkle with beautiful grace and awesome power, reminding us frail humans that our world, galaxy even, isn't only about us.

Okay, well, yeah. So true! Does that mean the American election of 2024 doesn't matter? Hell no! But what it means can be qualified in regards to the Big Dipper as, well, not small potatoes, but it puts into perspective what it does mean. That if what I consider the worst possible outcomes occurs, this world isn't going to fall into ruin. I don't want to dismiss the ENORMOUS CONSEQUENCES that I believe will befall the USA if Republicans take the White House. I shudder to think how the rights of women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ Americans will be trampled. I tremble to ponder how fragile the liberty of all Americans to choose their own leader will be compromised. I don't want to sound like an alarmist or paranoid, but to say I don't trust the Republican Party to maintain free and fair elections is an honest statement. And to have to note that feels.... Weird. Icky in a no, I am not a conspiratorially minded person but I don't trust Republicans as far as I could throw any one of them. Which is a damn sad state of affairs, but what my country has become due to the nefarious nature of current Republican party leadership.

I don't mean this post to wander off to the election rabble hinterlands, but in a week, the election will be occurring, although it's already in process what with early voting, which my husband and I participated in last week, hurray! And while I can't believe it's already the thirtieth of October, another manner of time's passage has DRAGGED ENDLESSLY, that of the American electoral process. And it's not going to magically end a week from tomorrow. Regardless of who emerges with the most immediate votes counted, it may last for days, weeks, oh I really don't hope months, but four years ago was a lesson in patience, in hope. In trusting in the system, which despite attempts to thwart it, went ahead as it had for decades, a century or two, in the past. We elected a brand new president in 2020, and hopefully we'll do the same in 2024. 

A woman. A person of color. Kamala Harris, with Tim Walz as her V.P. God willing that is the pair American voters choose to lead this nation. And if another pair is the victor.... Again, God willing, we'll somehow get through it. The Big Dipper hasn't fallen from the sky, and while it doesn't really move Redwood trees to shine its brightest, it maintains its place among the constellations year after year. And I pray that whatever happens in a week, plus those necessary amount of ensuing days, my nation will remain calm, strong, and aware that.... A deep breath is taken, then I simply lift my intercessions aloft, aware a greater good awaits no matter the results of this election, or any other on Earth. I need to keep the faith and remain stalwart in the face of whatever happens.

And now, it's time for lunch.

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