Lessons Learned from the Polls

I wrote this article as a knee jerk reaction, immediately after reading an article "Pope Benedict XVI Forbids Catholics from Voting for Hilary."

As you can see, it caused quite a stir among my facebook friends. Before I continue, I want to reiterate that I have faith in God that all life is created for a reason and that there are many options other than abortion that people can take. I don't believe that it should be used as contraception, but I feel like they should remain legal in the eyes of the law because not everyone feels the same way I do, and so I want to make sure that people don't have to resort to shady illegal abortion procedures. 

While this whole experience has been very eye-opening to me, I've also learned a few things along the way. 

1. Things are never so black and white. As much as people want things to be clear cut, I really feel that life is really depicted in grayscale. I tend to be a moderate when it comes to most things, so  I find myself straddling viewpoints, at times, feeling alienated. I learned that perhaps us moderates also tend to be more quiet about our opinions, so speaking up and receiving "likes" from people, along with supportive comments helped me feel a bit more normal. 

2. What bothers me the most is the fear that I am not being a true enough follower of Christ. Am I cheapening grace? For the past few years, I found it to be my mission to live my life being loving, helpful, and caring. But I also took some bold steps to break any stereotypes of Christians being narrow-minded and unforgiving. I always take it personally when a Christian group acts out in violence, or in unloving manners towards gays or Muslims. I know those people are not representative of Christianity as a whole, but I feel like there is still a general feeling about Christians being unforgiving and un-accepting.  So I feel like my way of spreading the gospel is to show love and understanding towards anyone I meet. Along they way, I've actually met some pretty interesting people with amazing stories to boot. 

3. There are so many issues out there that I have to really think and pray about. Immigration, death penalty, legalization of drugs, etc. I used to think I knew where I stood on issues like this, but with this election, I've learned that there are so many implications and nuances that go with a particular stance. When did life become so complicated. Sheesh!