> SOUTHERN INDIANA — Election season for me is the worst time of any given year. If I hear once more how this is the most important election ever and that the country will not survive if either candidate gets elected I might scream out loud.

I don’t want to hear the fearmongering. This country survived Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush. It will survive the next four years.

If you want to convince me that Obama will end America as we know it or that Mitt Romney is the savior save your breath. As long as the radical wings have taken over either party and those in power in Washington cannot sit and have a beer or a Coke and simply talk, it won’t matter.

One of these guys will win. Politics, when successful, has always and will always be about political compromise. With no compromise all you have is hatred and lots of non helpful jibber jabber.

You want to know why the economy is so bad, the situation in the Middle East is so volatile, or why unemployment is so high? The answer is simple; because nobody on either side of the aisle or running for president knows how to fix them. The problems are very complicated. If the answers were easy we would have them.

What will eventually sink this country are the real problems nobody can answer. Twenty percent of all high school students are dropping out. Americans consume 37 percent of the world’s cocaine. I know many of today’s young people are throwing up their hands in submission before their life even gets started. And what do we get for campaigning; political talk shows that will decide this election by analyzing sound bites from 40 minute speeches and catch slogans.

People like Rush Limbaugh and other not so notable liberal talking heads do more damage than any politician. Their job is to stir the drink and too many people are sucking them down. When I hear people quoting a nutcase like Glenn Beck I shake my head. These people get paid millions of dollars to distort the truth. These people are entertainers who make their living getting you excited. They all have a personal agenda and it’s not to better the country.

Rational discourse and compromise are the only hope and I am losing it.

I almost want to stop viewing all media until Nov. 6. I know hiding my head in the sand won’t help. Neither is feeling I have to hate the guy I am not voting for in the upcoming election. Too many regular non-partisan people have been drawn into the fray.

It used to be that election politics was something I had to loathe during election season. Now it’s a year-round everyday thing. I am way more afraid of that direction in which the country is heading than which of these guys is elected in November.



On Good Health and Life

A week ago Friday I headed home after a week’s work feeling tired but well. Less than 36 hours later I was in the emergency room awaiting the results of a CAT scan. I had an attack of diverticulitis. As an added extra bonus I was about to pass a 7 millimeter kidney stone. Boy, life just gives and gives.

As I write this I am really not feeling very good. The pain of one has subsided but I am dealing with a stint inserted for the passing of the stone after out-patient surgery and a Lithoscopy procedure. I am doing fairly well. Those who have been there understand and for those who haven’t, I wish you to never know.

It is yet another reality check and reminder of how important it is to have good health. I have tried very hard to be a happy person and enjoy my life. It is so easy to get bogged down with the unimportant things. Some day each person realizes for him/herself just how precious the gift of good health is. I am getting an extended lesson as I am typing this column. No matter what happens in your life when you are experiencing pain and illness, all else ceases to matter for the most part. The one goal I have is simply to recuperate, get well, and get back to work. I am most thankful that what I had can be fixed. The days between now and when I return to normal will be a very good lesson for me to remember when I get too exasperated with one of life’s little problems.

I wish to thank everybody in the emergency room and at Metropolitan Radiology for their unbelievable accommodation of my schedule. A special thank you goes out to my prep nurse Jolene for understanding the anxiety one feels during this time and for making it a bit easier. I felt like we were old friends before the Propofol mask was put over my face. Some people are just really good at what they do and in the right profession.

It is really true that when you have your health you have everything. It takes losing that normal state to really make you appreciate quality of life and to keep everything else in its proper perspective.



Lindon Dodd is a freelance writer who can be reached at lindon.dodd@hotmail.com