Whether you voted Democrat or Republican last week, one thing is true. Your party's candidate received more votes than they'd ever received in a presidential election. On one hand - that's encouraging. My other hand, though, worries.
More and more I worry that we've come to see voting as our only voice. We've come to believe our opportunity to make a difference in the world only comes around once every four years. I think we embrace our voting voice because it's safe. If it doesn't work out, well at least we're in the same boat with tens of millions of other people whose voice didn't work out. Because that is why many of us ignore our voices. What if our voice is rejected? What if it doesn't make the difference I want it to make? When I talk about our voices, I'm not just talking about the words we write or speak into the world. Sometimes our voice is the energy we pour into our jobs, believing we are making a difference; ignoring the possibility we aren't or won't. Sometimes our voice is the meal we leave on a neighbor's step, or the smile we offer without fear one won't smile back. Sometimes our voice is throwing the ball with our kid in the yard when that seems like such a small contribution to the overwhelming responsibility of being a dad. Sometimes our voice is the idea for a business we fear will be laughed right out of the marketplace. Sometimes our voice is recycling just because it might make a difference. Sometimes it's a quiet donation to a cause without knowing it will be the cure or the answer. Sometimes our voice is listening even though we're sure it's at the expense of some of our best advice ever. Sometimes our voice isn't at all what we say. There are many ways to share with the world the voice that lives in us all - the voice of our hearts longing to make a difference. The voice that often hides for fear that we won't. The election is over. But we still have voices. Voices in many ways that are much louder than a pen against a ballot. We had record turnout on election day, but our world needs record turnout every day. Our world needs our voices, no matter how much difference we think they will make. The world needs us to keep finding our voices, not ignoring them.
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Robert "Keith" CartwrightI am a friend of God, a dad, a runner who never wins, but is always searching for beauty in the race. Archives
July 2025
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