As candidates for local office and boards start popping up before the coming elections, it’s the privilege of the public to ask pertinent questions and obtain information about those candidates in order to make well-educated choices about who will best represent us in fulfilling the duties of those seats.
By definition, a representative is “a person chosen or appointed to act or speak for another or others,” or “an example of a class or group.”
Choosing who will set the “example” of who we are collectively is something we need to take seriously, and it goes a lot deeper than just picking the person with the best presentation. The hardest question to answer is one that isn’t easy to discern: motive.
Motive is defined in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary as “something (such as a need or desire) that causes a person to act.”
Motives can be negative or positive, and we all have them. Hunger is a motive. Revenge is a motive. Ambition is a motive. So are love, compassion and mercy.
Motives can be misidentified, like when you keep gnoshing on chocolate and potato chips because you think you’re hungry, but in reality, you’re dehydrated and need a glass of water (speaking from experience, here).
The trouble with ascertaining someone else’s motivation is that it’s very easy for them to say what they know we want to hear — and isn’t that the essence of politics?
We have a hard time defining our own motivations, much less determining another’s. Even the Bible says man can’t figure out what’s in the heart of man, only God can do that; which leaves us in a bit of a quandary when it comes time to choose those who will represent us in governing bodies.
We might not be able to pop someone’s head open (thankfully) and peer into the abyss, but we can look at the “fruit” they produce in life. That kind of “fruit” is not likely to change once they’re in office, it just flavors their representation of us, their constituents.
By NIKI TURNER – editor@editorht1885.com
