VOTE FOR ME!

VOTE FOR ME!

This is my last speech before the election. It is a crucial time for our country because you have in your power to decide how your government will best represent you, in meeting your needs in the USA, both at home and in the International community. Your vote could make the difference in the quality of life you, your families, and friends will have in the future.

You have heard the other candidate’s plans for the USA if she is elected. Listen to my program and you can see the stark contrast of philosophies and interests in your well-being. This is not the place to regurgitate past speeches, but to examine our essence as a people.

As a nominee for the position of President of the United States of America, I have had the luxury of traveling across this great land. I shook a lot of hands, kissed more than a few babies, and listened to the concerns and wisdom of my fellow Americans. I saw people of all sizes and shapes; the good-looking and the ugly; the young, mature, and the old, and people of different colored skins. In listening to what they had to say, I learned of their conservative and liberal principles and in the ideas that fill their religious lives. Of course, I did not find that everyone believed in the same solutions to their problems. It is the presence of this plethora of opinions that provided we with such valuable insights!

Most important, and, so simple to state, is that I learned that people are just people. When I was young, I once had a new boss who mentioned that he had visited Robert Kennedy in his office. I looked up with wide eyes and said: “You met Robert Kennedy?” He then gave me a lesson that I never forgot. He said that: “You should never look at a famous person and think that they are special. I want you to remember that he puts his pants on, one leg at a time, just like you do. You will meet many famous people in your job and you should always remember this lesson.

Years later, our company hosted a reception for speakers, at a conference we put on at a lush Florida hotel. As staff, we were at one side of a large banquet room, just milling around. We watched as presidents of big companies were standing in line to take a picture with one of the speakers, President Gerald Ford. We were laughing at our rich board members for standing in line for a picture. Suddenly, President Ford looked across the room, excused himself, and slowly walked towards us. When he came closer, as the senior staff person, I intercepted him and he said: “I want to take a picture with you”. I said: “Uh-uh, You don’t understand. We are just staff”! He replied: “That is why I want you to take a picture with me”. What a nice man to understand that the difference between staff and company presidents is non-existent if you realize that we are just people. The picture is hanging on my wall.

What I learned from meeting so many voters is that, no matter their appearance, age, race, color, education, or religion, people are just people. We all have similar concerns as we evolve from babies to elderly people. When I looked into a voter’s eyes and chatted with this person, I found that I was not concerned about outside appearance, but what where his or her concerns or ideas. Pausing to see them as individuals, gave me a new perspective on how to live. We should all stop judging people for what they look like, their age or sex, education, religion, whether they are farmers, or Judges. Your lives can be ever so much more enriched by meeting the person behind the face. Mine were!

Our country was planned as a melting pot for all races and religions to live and work, side-by-side. While prejudice has sometimes interfered grievously with this goal, as a nation and as individuals, we must learn to look past outward appearances of race and religion and get to know the person inside. Can you imagine how peaceful the world would be, if everyone tried that?

The alternative is a world where everyone is different from everybody else and we live in fear, derision, or hatred, instead of love. I believe that this habit of judging people for their differences is the cause of many of the world’s problems. Now is the time for you to decide to rediscover your neighbors, friends, and all people that you meet, so that you can enjoy them for what they are: people like you, inside. Vote for me and we can work together to resolve differences among people and countries, and make the world a better place!

^© Norman F. Estrin, Ph.D., May 9. 2016. “Vote for Me!”