Century Park Blog

Drum roll please... We are only two weeks away from Election Day!

Since this year is a Presidential election, America seems more divided than ever. Most people feel very strongly that their favorite candidate should be elected to the White House while the other candidate most certainly should not.

In the years before social media and smartphones, Americans put a campaign sign in their front yards, slapped bumper stickers on their vehicles, and engaged in lively (but polite) debates around the water cooler at work. Sadly, those days now seem like a nostalgic relic from years long gone.

With today's smartphones, tablets and other devices, many of us can go online at any minute, day or night. We can instantly read the latest election analysis and express our political views to any number of people, both friends and complete strangers. We can vent. We can insult. We can question someone's integrity and vow never to speak to them again unless they agree with our point of view. It is our Constitutional right to free speech. Yet, all this divisiveness and mean-spiritedness around politics creates a toxic atmosphere. What are we to do?

As co-workers and associates in our senior living communities, it is more important than ever that we exercise civility and tolerance when it comes to others whose political views might not align with our own. Richard John Neuhaus said, "Genuine tolerance does not mean ignoring differences as if differences made no difference. Genuine tolerance means engaging differences within a bond of civility and respect."

If you have ever played sports or parented or coached your children while they played, you have undoubtedly come across people who exhibited a lack of restraint. Sometimes it's the coaches who swear profanely at players or officials. Other times, it's the parents in the stands who become unhinged and begin screaming in the worst ways imaginable. They forget that "little ears are listening, and little eyes are watching."

Our boys played Little League baseball and high school football, but I was happy when they both chose tennis as their main sport. In tennis, people have their differences and become frustrated, but tennis matches are typically lost by mental or emotional mistakes made by the players on the court. In tennis, there is an overall respect for the game. I have watched "potty mouth" tennis players and their parents be escorted off the court due to disrespectful behavior. I have learned from playing tennis and watching our children over the years that in tennis we respect the game, and win or lose, we always honor our opponent.

At Century Park Associates, we are encouraged to daily live out our mission, vision, and values by honoring the sacredness of every soul. This even includes every soul that does not share our opinions and viewpoints.

Today more than ever, as Century Park associates, we can continue to define ourselves by exercising our right to vote according to our sacred values, but also by practicing civility with the souls entrusted to us and those who work alongside us. Politics increasingly brings out the worst in some people. Let's pledge to be our best selves and show our best selves to others — those who share our views and those who don't.