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By the time you read this, the goblins of Halloween and the ghosts from this election year will hopefully not haunt us.  However, no matter what the results of Nov. 3 reveal, we must move on.

Some of us will undoubtedly not be happy after all the votes are counted, but we must abide by the majority’s decision.  After all, it is America.  We might want to settle down and remember that we elect a President for only four years. 

We have the option to redecide our decisions in a mere 48 months.

Sure, a lot of damage can occur in four years, or progress can be made to better all citizens’ lives.  We should never jump to the conclusion that all is lost because our choice for the leaders of our land did not win. 

What we all want is simple; we want America to triumph. We are so politically divided that it seems to me that because we are, we are losing.  The race for our government officials is over, but the race for unity is just beginning.  COVID has put a spotlight on our anger and our rudeness.   I never understood how a virus could become partisan, but how amazingly sad that it did.   

When folks are lying in a hospital alone, wondering if they will defeat their illness, I do not believe their priority is politics.   When doctors and nurses are frantically, exhaustingly trying to save a patient, I doubt they are worrying too much about the fate of their state senatorial races. 

So, why did the pandemic become political?  Simply, to get your vote.  Now that the voting is over, what will the coronavirus do? It will still try to kill us after the first week of November.   What can we do? 

We could try living by putting in place proper priorities.  The great American polarization should end on Nov. 4, period. 

We must heal, and the only way we can do that is to watch out for each other’s well-being.   

The pandemic is not an American disease.  Its tentacles spread in waves across the globe, sickening and killing each nation’s residents no matter what type of government rules them.  COVID is not a hoax, nor is it something to merely get tired of.   

I guess the next time we go to war to save our country, we should stop in the middle of it because we feel fatigued.  Really? 

America is quieted, the rhetoric is over, but we are still in a fight to return to life as we once knew it. 

We want to see school buses everywhere, watch parades, notice Santa’s on every corner, and businesses with doors wide open. 

We yearn to go to reunions, weddings, and parties. 

We desire hugs, view smiles, and hold hands without worry.   

We are drained of a virus stripping us of those joys, but the way we return to those joyous times is to continue doing the right things no matter how painful. 

Today we know America is suffering from oozing wounds, disappointments, and enough faded candidate signs to litter our land from coast to coast. 

However, we are still free, we are still hopeful, and we will survive.  We just need to take our medicine, get our priorities in line, and be patient. 

Yes, we are hungry for a return to normalcy, but our actions should be infused with wisdom for us to see healing.

If we continue sowing seeds of division or rebellion, or refuse to follow medical guidance, I doubt we will see those smiles anytime soon. 

For the love of America, let us put our swords down, clasp our hands together, and pray for God’s grace and mercy to fall on this land.

Let us rejoice in the spirit of solidarity, of peace, and move toward a brighter tomorrow, having learned that nothing in life is to be taken for granted.   Not our country, its freedom, its people, nor the air we breathe.    

Yes, the election is over. 

Who knows what the next four years will bring? However, I do not believe the outcome is totally left in our government’s hands, but in our citizens’ behavior.

Why not join to refresh America? Work together to rid the country of a viral menace first and foremost, and then watch our collective spirits’ soar. 

Let us turn off 24-hour news for a minute or a day, talk to God, and ask him to guide us toward a unifying tomorrow filled with compassion and understanding. 

Take a shower and wash all the dirt of this long campaign season away and enjoy the sun rising in the morning of a new day. 

Let us move on.