I can’t remember an election cycle like this. For the first time in my memory, it seems our country is going to select a president based on which candidate the majority dislikes less. This doesn’t seem like a recipe for success.

And as long as we spend our energy focusing on which presidential candidate we dislike more than the others, as long as we bend our energies toward seeing our less preferred candidate defeated, we can rest assured our focus is in the wrong place.

Make no mistake–politics is important. Who we select to lead our country has an impact not only here, but all over the world.

But who we select to lead our country pales in comparison with how we choose to grow ourselves.

Because when I know who I am and you know who you are and we can meet and talk about solving problems without screaming at each other and pointing fingers, we can make better choices.

When we have the courage to talk about issues without calling each other names, when our focus is on how to move forward rather than on who is wrong, we can act responsibly.

When how we raise our own children is more important than how others raise theirs, when we bend our energies to admitting and correcting our own mistakes rather than ridiculing others’ mistakes, when we have the courage to step forward to help our neighbors rather than demanding that someone else help them, we can demand leaders who have the same kind of courage we do.

When we can do all this, we’ll be as great as we like to think we are.

More importantly, we’ll recognize that there are plenty of things more important than politics.

There will be no post here Thursday. I will be traveling. See you next week.