ìWonít you be glad when the electionís over?î

How many times have you heard or spoken words to that effect in the past month? More than once, I would wager.

By the time most of you read this, that will have happened. The election will be over. A new president will be elected, and hopefully by the people and not the Supreme Court.

It has been about as contentious and tense an election as I have ever participated in. The only one to rival it for me was 1972, when George McGovern was defeated by Richard M. Nixon. The feeling that the country was divided was very strong.

There were societal parallels that made it so, namely the Vietnam War, and how we could extricate ourselves from it. That similarity doesnít bode well for our future, because we will likely be trying to extricate ourselves from Iraq four years from now, meaning our divisions will be even deeper.

I almost feel sorry for whoever wins this time.

Our division feels even worse now, I think partly because we have been bombarded with so much negative advertising. It will be a great relief not to hear those grim and gritty voices telling us what a poor choice that other guy is, all the awful things he has done. It will be good not be reminded daily about what a scary world we live in, to hear the fear that underlies almost every statement coming from our leaders.

Thatís not reality. We live is a frightening time, yes. But it doesnít have to dominate our thoughts, nor should the constant negative messages that we have been hearing.

The biggest challenge that the new president will face will be to unite the country. Some people might scoff at the very notion. ìUnite the country. What does that mean? We donít have a civil war on our hands. Just do your job, and everything else will fall into place.î

Thereís some truth to that. But we do have deep divisions that werenít here even a few years ago. Think how close the people of this country were three years ago, after 9/11. Yes, it was human nature that we rallied together as a nation after being attacked. Maybe it is naive to think that we could have held on to that unity. But to have become so divided in three years is quite shocking. It certainly didnít happen the last time we were truly attacked, at Pearl Harbor.

What had changed? How did it happen? Thatís a topic that will be argued for months if not years, and by people much smarter than I am.

I just hope the arguments and discussions take place with openness and civility. Weíve been almost afraid to cut to the core of our disagreements in recent months. Afraid to speak our minds. How many times have you stifled a political opinion in the past year, or declined to speak out about an issue or make a plug for your candidate? Or even ask what the other person is thinking?

If you are like me, it has happened on numerous occasions.

A divided country. Thatís the number one problem our new president should address, to get to the bottom of why those divisions exist.

Not an easy job, and one that starts with us, with civility and respect for our fellow citizens.

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