“When you win, say nothing. When you lose, say less.” ~ Paul Brown
Crossing my fingers and hoping by this time next week the crackling election tension in the air will have dissipated like an air mattress with a slow leak, leaving us grounded and steady — literally. It’s wishful thinking, I know.
Whatever happens next Tuesday (and dragging out for who knows how long after the polls close), half of the country is going to be angry and fearful, and that’s going to affect us all, because much to everyone’s surprise, we all still live in the same country and we’re all Americans.
While we hope there won’t be violence, destruction, and generalized stupidity perpetrated among and by Americans against other Americans, it’s entirely possible and we should probably be prepared. Barring the extremes, we’re still going to be left in that uncomfortable situation where a lot of folks are unhappy, and we should prepare for that, too.
How? Well, if your “team” (that mindset is part of the problem that has gotten us to this point as a country) loses, it’s time to brush up on those rules of good sportsmanship we learned in school: respect, fairness, humility, self-control, and encouragement.
Whatever the outcome, the same sportsmanship principles apply, because at the end of the day we’re all on the same side — the United States of America. A good sport is humble in victory and gracious in defeat, accepts decisions gracefully and treats others with dignity.
Emotions are running hot, tensions are high, and the vicious rhetoric is off the charts. We’re all going to need a minute to walk it off and cool down. Perhaps more importantly, we are all going to need to give one another a way to “off-ramp” with honor and decency so that we can return to just being fellow Americans. We can still agree to disagree and we can still have debates over policies, while we respect the cultural and social and personal differences that give strength and resilience to the fabric of our nation.
Can we do it? Let’s hope so.
