Fall, 1984; Fall, 1988; Fall, 1992; Fall, 1996; ad infinitum.

Every four years, the candidates come out swinging. They, like Olympic athletes, have put in the long hours. They’ve trained, honed their quips, their zings. Their arrows are sharp. Daggers, too. And they stand on the world stage and cut each other. World without mercy. Amen.

Elections are blood sport, and if you don’t believe me ask any of the losers—Mondale, Dukakis, Bush I, Dole, Gore, Kerry, McCain, Romney, Hillary. It’s survival of the political fittest and no attack is too low. After all, the power to cripple is the power to win. After all, the one who can be crippled is not fit for the Presidency.

As I’ve grown older, this blood sport seems to have grown bloodier. And in these most recent years, with the advent of social media, We The People play more of a role. We take to social media to lambast, lampoon, perhaps harpoon candidates. We use real news, fake news, rumor, innuendo, and ad hominem attacks to score points against their opponents. We shame the opposition, too, particularly those who are less down with the right causes.

Win, win, win. At all costs win. No one wants to date a loser.

This is our motto.

I have been guilty of participating in this bloodsport, American as I am. But as we approach the election of 2020—an election that sure to be bloodier than any before—I’m considering a different way. I’m considering how to pursue the One Thing—the ultimate Good—as I participate in the election.

“Blessed are the meek,” Jesus said, “for they will inherit the earth.” It was a comment made to a people under the boot of Roman thugs. These people—people on the losing edge of the sword—carried revolution in the DNA and passed it down to their children. Still, in that powder keg of a political climate, the great teacher flipped the narrative. The world, he said, belonged to those not always trying to dominate it. The world worth inheriting, he said, belonged to the meek.

The American experiment is ripping itself apart, in part through the political process. But arrogance and anger and bloodsport will not give us the earth we want. Meekness, humility, kindness, generosity—these are the values we pass down to our children, in part because these values represent the kind of world we want or our grandchildren. You know this to be true. Right?

The election is coming. The bloodsport is coming. The shaming. The vitriol. The attacks. The news and fake news. Can we resist? Can we model a better way, a way that creates the world we want to inherit?

Grab a copy. Grab a copy for a friend.

The Book of Waking Up: Experiencing the Divine Love That Reorders a Life

By Haines, Seth