Prayerfully, Vote...

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TWELVE YEAR OLDS, HALLOWEEN & ELECTION 2016

My twelve-year-old grandson and his three friends

are interested in the election, this year

It’s unavoidable. It’s in their faces—

News bytes pop up on their iPad and iPod

on the car radio and TV

They’ve stayed up late and watched the debates

listened to what their parents say across the dinner table

discussed the issues pro and con and are numbed, as we all are

by the unprecedented vulgarity and accusations

that overshadow it all

The four friends went out

as a team on Halloween night—

One disguised as Trump, one as Hillary

one as Bernie (who carried a sign

saying, I Lost!) and one

dressed as an American flag, unfurled

People stopped them. Some laughed

Some snickered, some just shook their heads

Still others asked to photograph them

Their antics flashed me back to the 1960s

when my husband and I were young—

We knocked on all our friend’s front doors

dressed up as Jack and Jackie Kennedy

Well, the 2016 election is just a few days away

and it’s decades from the days of Jack and Jackie

The kids are experiencing, for better or worse

how our democracy works

I wonder if these way-too-young-to-vote

twelve-year-olds

will be like so many of us duly registered voters

preparing go into the booths to do our civic duty

on Tuesday—

No matter who ends up winning the presidency

just so glad all the political outrageousness

will finally, finally, finally be over!

Maude Carolan Pych


It's been a long and grueling presidential campaign. I'm sure we're all tired and will be glad when it's over. Lord Jesus, my hope is that we will all prayerfully consider the candidates and the issues, and exercise our right and privilege as American citizens, by casting our vote on Tuesday.