Look back at all your childhood entertainment. Spanning across all forms of storytelling one of the most recognizable conflicts used to spin a tale is the clash of good versus evil. What harm can that do? After all they are just some irrelevant stories of childhood that we grow out of. Well that’s the issue, we never grow out of it. We get used to the oversimplification of what is right and wrong. I understand that having these simple cemented ideas of what is acceptable is useful when raising small children. Useful in the sense that it easier to understand and explain to a child a single rule. But there is little transition out of this belief into adulthood. We continue our adulthood carrying ourselves as if only our definition of what is right and wrong is valid, and any other variant is unacceptable.
Of course there are those who come to the realization that things are not and cannot be that definite, after lots of exposure to the outside world. We realize that actions and the situations in which they are deemed adequate changes across person to person, and even change based on what point they are in their lives. Within that time it takes for us to be open to the idea that the definition of right and wrong are more on a scale of acceptability, we have most likely partaken in many actions that now seem regrettable.
I bring this to our attention because it is election season. The United Stated exists in a two party system , making it easier to project this childhood understanding of one good and bad group fighting for influence in our government. This is a dangerous idea. Because for those of us who never grew out of relying on a simple label to make decisions on who to support, we miss out on all the other possibilities that are being offered. We reject the notion of other good ideas before they are even shared with us.
I ask you dear readers to do through research on what will be in your ballot. Find your information from a variety of different sources, then make your decisions. Do not rely on a label to make your choices for you. The true danger of good versus evil that it makes us more prone to blindly obeying the preset beliefs passed down to us, we don’t think for ourselves. Make your vote count on November 6th, and make sure what is counted is what you truly believe in.
If you do not know where to start on your research try using https://www.ballotready.org/ . They do a good job in outlining your ballot in an easy to navigate manner and make sure to tell you where all their sources come from. Happy voting!