Take a step back for a minute or two and find a quiet place somewhere. Close your eyes and try to turn off all the thoughts and memories of everything that's happened recently. Breathe. Wait until the stream of everything running through your mind takes a back seat and then...
Picture a blank page. A white void.
Picture what is most important to you - the people and places, activities and objects, thoughts and feelings that make up your world. Picture all the things you have rather than the things you don't.
Let your mind go until the page is filled with these things even if there are only a few on the page.
Now imagine your page is just one page in a book. A book with your page and the pages of others - people you love, friends and relatives - people you admire and respect, who inspire you - people you 'get' and those that 'get' you - and also - people you don't know, there are many of them - but they, like you, all have a page in the book.
Think about the types of things their pages have on them - the things most important to them. Some might be the same as yours, some may not - but within the mass of pages in the book there are bound to be some common threads that run right through.
Common experiences and feelings, thoughts and beliefs that once all the labelling was removed would just be what they really are - things that are of the 'common good' to everyone, everywhere regardless of race, gender, location, belief or status.
What story could a book like that possibly contain? Is the tale about one, a few perhaps or the many? What does your heart tell you the real answer to that question is?
Even if you are not a religious or spiritual person take just a minute to picture the world and all its life in the hands of a spirit of care, a spirit of common good. How does the story read so far? How will it read in the future?
And now, open your eyes...
We live in an imperfect world. We will never get it completely right. But we all try to put one foot in front of the other in the direction our hearts tell us is the right way to go and when it comes down to it, right down to it, as much as we just want to take care of ourselves and those around us we find our care extending out to those we don't know as well because we do know the things that are common to everyone and we try to act with a common good towards those things.
And now, think about your vote...
There are choices. Neither of them are perfect. But one leads us more down a path of common good than the other. No one should have to tell you which one that is because you should be more than capable of working that out.
No one should have to say you have a duty of care and a obligation, not to yourself but to everyone, to act in a way that is for the common good and get it right but in today's world this has to be said.
If what's been said in this letter does not resonate with you and you're having trouble deciding then maybe it's better to not vote in this election. That's your choice.
Thank you for reading and taking the time to consider the future.
Y\our future.
