Like some 50 million other Americans, I watched 
the recent Presidential debate. In the days that have followed, people have asked me my opinion about the event. Scores of others including professional pundits and commentators have expressed their opinions. Some have provided analysis. Some have predicted the outcome of the election already based on this one debate. Others have called for new strategies and even new candidates. Some have had knee jerk reactions. Others have resolved to wait patiently before expressing their views. If you are reading this, you have probably heard much of this and more.
The Voter
Here is the thing. The greatness of the election process in our democracy is that in any election only one opinion counts – yours. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis told us, “The most important political office is that of the private citizen.” You have the freedom to choose the candidate you think will best serve in the office in question.
Like any other decision, we should listen to the opinions and arguments of others. We should gather information. We should check the facts. Find the truth. Try to understand the consequences of our decision. But in the end, we should choose the person we think will serve us and our country the best.
Teach Our Children
While everyone else is formulating their opinion, I choose to focus on our children. To assure that our democracy survives and thrives now and in the future, there is a lesson we can teach our children. Fortunately, the rest of the current Presidential campaign will be filled with “teachable moments.” Perhaps by helping our children understand the responsibility of a voter; we will find a way to understand the choice more clearly ourselves.
Remembering that each ninety-minute debate is only a very small part of the information gathering process, we should teach our children to listen to everything carefully. To sort the facts from fiction. To consider the capabilities and competencies of the candidates. Their job performance. And their character. All that said, watching and talking about this debate and future appearances of both candidates can be a terrific and necessary learning experience.
The Best Coach?
As a former coach, I might help children think about
the election process in terms of a leader to whom they can more easily relate. For example, I might ask them, “Why do you like your coach? (or insert, teacher, music teacher, tutor or counselor, etc.). Or who is the best coach you know? If you could choose a coach for next season, who might it be? Why?” I would let them respond, then add some follow-up questions like:
• Does the coach treat all the players with the same respect?
• Does the coach have the necessary experience?
• At the end of the season, do you think you are a better player than when you started?
• Does the coach help you understand the future… and what is coming next?
• When it is appropriate or necessary does your coach stand up for you?
• Does your coach have good relationships with opposing coaches, referees and parents?
• Does your coach care more about their own reputation than the team?
• Can your coach admit that he or she has made a mistake?
• Does it matter how the coach acts “off the field?”
• Can your coach be a gracious winner and loser? Because both will happen.
The Same Questions?
Do some or all these questions seem familiar? Are they questions you have heard in one form or another in the past week or so? They are good questions. They are some of the questions that we should be asking ourselves about the candidates who are currently running for office. They are the questions we need to teach our children to ask as they grow into adulthood. Teach them to ask the tough questions; then, let their answers guide them.
In the end, the debates, the television ads, and the political rallies will not determine who will be President. The folks who go into the voting booth will 
make that determination. If you share that view, then you realize we all have a huge responsibility. We will individually and collectively choose who will lead us after every election. So, we should accept that responsibility. Listen. Ask questions. Read. Do our homework. One event, one speech, one debate – in the past or in the future – should not determine the outcome of an election. Don’t blame someone else for who gets elected or not. Participate in the process. Teach your children to do the same.
Also recall that we do not tally the scores after the first quarter ends or even at halftime. No matter who is ahead or behind, we should “play ‘til the whistle blows”. The whole game. So much can happen in the “second half.” This time the clock runs until November 5. There are countless stories of how outcomes were changed before the clock read zero. We do not know what might happen, so stay engaged.
I encourage us to accept the responsibility of a voter. Vote like the state of the union depended on each of us. Encourage our children to think the same way.
There’s a song in every silence
Seeking word and melody
In every story there’s a lesson,
Waiting there for us to see
