Reader caution. My political rant.

Today is election day in the United States of America. In Canada, our news networks and print vehicles have been filled with stories about the race for the Presidential office. In many ways, the election to the south overshadowed our Canadian election just a few weeks ago -- and I pray the right man wins.

I don't often write 'political', but Sarah Palin has shaken me out of my abstinence and created a stir of anxiety in my democratic roots.

Now, I like being a woman and, I think having a woman in a position of power would, should, could be a powerful move forward in balancing the yin/yang of our world. But..... and there's that annoying but.... a woman for the sake of a woman as a political leader is not right. It's not smart.

Now, I like my femininity. I celebrate the fact I am different than a man. I like wearing skirts, and lipstick (though Sarah Palin could make me wipe the lipstick from my lips and never touch the stuff again!). I like that I can sew a hem and change a light bulb and that I don't actually like to kill animals.

I like that I think differently than a man, have a different perspective, a different outlook on many things. I like that my emotions are accessible to me. That I can speak of love and not go all tongue tied. I can speak of economics and be able to add two plus two and not come up with nothing. I like that I can hammer a white picket fence post into the ground and pound a lump dough into a loaf of bread.

And I do not like playing dumb. I don't like women who wink at me from the television screen while smiling sweetly at their vice-presidential opponent, as if to say, it's okay guys and gals, he's just an old fuddy dud, let's not take this too seriously. I don't like watching someone pretending to play dumb when they aren't even smart enough to know they're dangerous. And I don't like people not taking running for office seriously.

Running for office is serious. Running a country is even more serious.

And Sarah Palin scares me.

And that is my political rant. Election campaigns will come and go. Candidates will rise and fall. America is poised on the brink of possible greatness, or, if voter fickleness and right wing diatribe overrides common sense and decency, Sarah Palin could rise to the top. Cream isn't all that rises when politics sours. And, if she get too high she might just dump her personal brand of stupidity on an entire nation running for cover, offering up cosmetic changes that won't fix anything more than the colour adorning her lips while she blows sweet kisses at herself in the mirror of her self-adoration.

Yup. She scares me.

And what can I do with my fear? Well, I can step into it. Sitting here in northern climes where the election is just a show to watch, I cannot affect the outcome. It is beyond the circle of my influence, beyond my control.

I can breathe. Have faith (gotta admit it's in small quantities when it comes to election outcomes) and pray all will be well south of the border. That calmer, more intelligent minds will prevail. That decency and honour will override rhetoric and circus-like curiosity (though Sarah Palin has a decidedly incurious mind) and focus back on my day, my world, what I can create in my life today that will add value, make a difference, create joy.

I am off to Banff to give a presentation at a high school. The focus is on recognizing and acknowledging good and bad relationships -- perhaps I can use Sarah Palin as an example of someone pulling the wool over a nation's eyes, trying desperately to hide her self-serving intent, while playing sweet and nice. Now there's a thought!

The question is: What kind of day will you create in your world? Are you focusing on your fear, or stepping into fear to unearth your courage to create a world of change for the better?