Vote and keep in mind that it’s not cult of personality that you’re voting for. It’s not a political party you’re voting for. As a US Citizen, it’s your obligation to defend and support the United States Constitution. Fun fact, the framers of the Constitution were terribly afraid that political parties would fracture our nation and tear us apart. It should be Country over Party and not the other way around.

Increase financial literacy, get educated, adopt an agile, lifelong learning mindset, periodically unplug from social media, advocate for changes to our educational system to improve the skills of critical thinking, creativity, and decision-making, do what you can to reduce your impact on the planet, and understand when you’re being played by politicians and the media. We are all in this together. Support your neighbor, get to know individuals from other cultures and other parts of the world.

I fear that we are becoming anesthetized to what would be considered vicious, uncivil, unacceptable, and unproductive discourse to a prudent, independent observer.

We learn and grow as humans when we look at a challenge through multiple lenses and take onboard information from multiple perspectives. To me, this is true freedom - the ability to learn from our mistakes, test and expand our capabilities through experiences and education, pursue individual happiness and self-actualization, and meaningfully contribute to society with our unique gifts and talents.

My plea today is to bring the temperature down in political discourse by being mindful of the language we use. Yes, extreme language makes for juicy headlines, but it also creates unnecessary barriers to constructive conversations.