Election Day is finally in site. Praise God!

I don't know about how any of you are voting, and that is okay. Voting is a very personal thing and we are so blessed in this country to be able to have free and open elections. I hope that if you haven't voted yet that you will do so on Tuesday. It doesn't truly matter who you vote for, neither of the two major candidates are virtuous, or without blemish. I can honestly say I am disgusted by both of those two choices. I have heard some say they are going to vote; not voting isn't the answer.

We need to choose the person who we feel best suits out political and religious views. Between Clinton and Trump there is no cut and dry solution for me. Both candidates, for me are flawed and self involved. Hilary is totally trying to become president to forever remain in the history books; and I have come to believe that she will do so at any cost. She is totally in this for herself. Whatever good and noble intentions she had, left her long ago, that is why her popularity is so low. Donald, well I am not sure I have him figured out. He is definitely a narcissist, and definitely vulgar, loud mouthed and makes fun of people; all of these things are truly despicable and not very presidential. However I have come away with the feeling that he does really care about people, he is very unpolished, but then he is not a politician. I believe that is why he has such a following. People are tired and frustrated. We do not have the level of jobs that we once had, a $15 mandatory minimum wage won't change that. Flipping hamburgers at a fast food restaurant is not a career, jobs like that were at one time for school kids wanting to make a little extra money, $15 an hour for them will only make the food more costly and less people doing more work. I don't make $15 an hour and I am an administrative assistant. I live pay day to pay day like most people these days. I once made over $40,000 a year, but the auto industry went bust and being over 50 it was hard to find another high paying job again. I have no regrets, I live a modest life and I love what I do. The only point I am trying to make is that our economy has changed so very much. We no longer have the volume of high paying jobs that we once had. With the new "Obama Care" insurance rates have become astronomical. Our economy is out of control and so is our world. People are afraid.

This new movement will continue no matter who wins. The people of this great country want to be heard and they will be heard. No matter who wins this election people will demand change.

Voting is the beginning of instituting this change. Please vote and make your voice heard. We are a nation of hard working, generous people. Everything will fall into place as long as we demand that the people we elect are truly working for the people and not themselves.

Please vote, make a difference, and be involved. Complacency is what has brought us to this point in the history of our great nation. Only personal involvement and political transparency can heal us again. We must make our elected officials do the job we elected them to do. That is why I believe in term limits for all elected jobs, city, state or federal.

Please vote and make a difference!

October is respect for Life Month-What It Truly Means to be Pro Life

October is the month dedicated to the Respect for Life movement. During this month we pray for an end of abortion and an end to this culture of death in our society.

I hear a lot of people say they are pro life. I am pro life too. When most people hear that phrase they think of those people being anti abortion, and that is certainly true, but it is so much more than that.

To be Pro Life means that you believe that all life is sacred from conception to natural death. So obviously abortions, mercy killings, murders, and the death penalty are things that we are against. Even though pro life is all those things it is also much more than this. Pro life celebrates all life, it desires to protect all life. It realizes that all life is a gift from God.

To respect life also means to respect the people we meet everyday, to have empathy for those who are hurting from violence or escaping war, or poverty. Respecting those people who are marginalized and mistreated and threatened because of race, color, or religion.

Because respecting life is all these things, we should be inclusive of this when we debate the abortion issue. I hate abortion, I also hate seeing Muslims being harassed and vilified because of the atrocities of the Islamic Jihads. I hate seeing the disabled made fun of, I hate crude remarks about how someone looks. I hate the violence that exist in our streets. I hate the violence between black and white.

I love all life. God has given us our lives, this good earth and all our individual talents. God is life, God is love. We are called to love each other no matter what. Yes, even those we do not like, or do not understand.

So when you are talking to me and telling me not to vote for someone because they are not pro life, keep in mind that I am looking at the whole picture. I want to see an individual run for office who encompasses all the criteria that I mentioned above.

Unfortunately, there is no one running for president with the above attributes, so I must make my decision using a different yardstick.

I don't know what the future holds, who the next  president will be. I do know this. Unless we become a society that once again treats all people with a least a small degree of respect, that we become a little more compassionate to our neighbors, or take responsibility for the children that we conceive in moments of passion; unless we become life giving in our individual actions toward all people, we will never truly be a people who actually are respectful of life.