I've got thoughts

I've been reflecting a lot on where we were this time last year. Anyone else do that? Is that another sign of adulthood?

This time last year, we were moving out of our apartment and into my mom's house to hang out until we moved into our house. It was a big transition, and a really exciting time for us. I can't believe that soon, it'll be a year that we have lived in our home. Time is just passing so quickly, and we are so blessed to be homeowners and steadily employed.

I think it's really important for me to remind myself of that as often as I can. We don't talk about it like this, but it's become the American way to complain about what we don't have and what we expect others to do for us (or not do for us). On a political level, at work, in our personal relationships. We are hyper-focused on what we feel like we are owed. (Bee tee dubs, I'm not a Republican, even though you might think I was by the mail we've been getting lately). 

I can get stuck in this trap too -- one bad week at work and I'm spending a lot of energy wishing I was a lottery-winner and could do what I wanted with my time. I could buy this new thing or that. And the whole time, I'm just missing the bigger picture. 

Tim and I can provide for ourselves. We have what we need (and then some). We have dreams for what we want to do with our time and talent, and you know what? It will take TIME, sacrifice and hard work to get there. It won't happen overnight and no elected official or boss will make it easier/harder to get there, if it's what we really want with our future. (Sometimes, I think when we are complaining, it's about something that we aren't really committed to changing ourselves.)

For those of you NOT living in Iowa, we are getting slammed right now. Robo-calls, mailers, commercials -- campaign coverage is taking over my morning NPR programming. Most days, I hesitate to bring these thoughts to a group of people. We live in a divided society, and we can't talk about our (true) values and the political landscape easily. We are quick to complain and judge.

But, in this height of a campaign season, I've got something to say.

We give our elected officials, namely, our president, too much credit.

After all, they are merely a reflection of us, right? I'd like to think of our senators, representatives, governors and presidents as just a more concentrated version of us. (Because they are). If we are unhappy with the partisan, fear-mongering, complaint-driven nature of our political dialogue, we need to start by reflecting on the conversations we're  having at the kitchen counter at night. Who are we blaming today for the things we aren't getting?

The brilliant thing about studying marketing is that, you start to realize how much a movement can capture a person's worst. The biggest human emotions to market to are fear, greed, exclusivity, and vanity. Political campaigns and politicians are great marketers. They understand what emotions are likely to motivate us, the American public, and they sell to them. And we eat it right up.

So, back to my original point. Each election is our opportunity to change the dialogue. In between elections, we have the choice of consuming what's being sold, or not. If we are unhappy with the state of affairs, we can change it. 

If we are unhappy with the lot of personalities up on the election block, it's because we spent so much time complaining and shifting blame that we missed the bigger picture.

Change the conversation.