Competition certainly has its place in the sports arenas where if one side wins, they are declared the winner and then it’s over. That’s the point. One side wins and the other side loses and that’s the risk. Unfortunately we’ve taken the mentality of competition and brought it into the very things that dictate the way we live.

Politics should not be viewed as a game, as a competition and that’s exactly what it is. It’s simply about gaining power and keeping it for as long as one side can. With this mentality not much gets done because the main focus is retaining the power. The main focus is not in solving problems or creating a happy, loving society. And while one side is in office with the possibility of changing things, the other side is in the business of discrediting them as much as possible while they’re there in an attempt to win back the power next time.

This is nothing new, it’s always been like this in one way, shape or form and all sides involved have taken part. It’s the nature of winning and losing. Fortunately, the government is a reflection of its people so if we the people come to our senses and start behaving, thinking and living in a different way…eventually our government will reflect that. The change begins with us.

We need to BE the change we wish to see. Unite on the common ground of loving thy neighbor…make love the primary goal when we seek solutions and we will arrive at the proper solutions. As long as we’re focused on arguing and winning, things will continue to be a competition and solutions will not be found. How can we find them if we’re not even looking for them? We paint our opinions with the word solution and pretend we’re working towards a solution. No, we’re not working towards a solution, we’re working towards winning. Beating the other side. And as long as that’s the goal, change will be minimal.

Can you even imagine a conversation that had the common goal of solving a problem and who’s idea it was didn’t matter? Can you imagine attempting to solve issues in a marriage the same way we’re attempting to solve issues in our society? Where it’s constantly a fight for power, to simply be right? We’ve all seen marriages like this…are the happy? Effective? Of course not, people go to marriage counseling because this dynamic simply doesn’t work. It’s the same in the macrocosm as it is in the microcosm. A struggle for power doesn’t end in happy solutions for all involved. It ends with more struggle, with one side temporarily in power and the other side thirsting for their chance to seize it. There is no solution in that, there is no happiness and there is certainly no joy.

Let’s unite in the fact that we all want to be loved, we all want to feel safe, we all want to be able care for our family’s basic needs. Unite there in our daily lives in the ways that only we can. Respect one another in our relationships, marriages, work environment, at the stop light, in the store, even in our disagreements…start there. In time our government will have no choice but to reflect the energy and ways of being that its citizens embody.