The election is a few days away. The option of not voting
should not be considered by any educated citizens. I include “educated” as a
qualifying descriptor since public schools were started to educate the
electorate. In Length of Days - The Age of Silence voting has become a thing of the foggy past. Most people have never even heard of the privilage. The hard part is: 1) making a decision and then 2) feeling secure
in that decision once it’s made.
Who should I vote for?
To determine who to vote for one might gather their
information into several political topics. Broad areas of concern will differ
from person to person. Each one knows what is important to them. These
suggestions might prompt others based on personal interests.
Personal Needs: Will who I vote for make a positive
difference in my personal life? Will I
be better able to find a job based upon the candidate’s proposed budget and/or
financial plan? Will my job be adequate to meet my needs, to educate my
children, cloth, provide a safe home and have a little money left over to visit
Grandma and Grandpa in the summer? Will my children and grandchildren have a
better life because of my single vote on Tuesday?
Community Development: Will one vote elect someone who can
get the paper plant open again so our neighbors can find good paying jobs? Will
the church be able to put a Holy scene in the yard? Can the children of the
community receive a good education in the local schools?
For Christiana, her goal was that the people, her neighbors and friends, would be free from the chemicals that dulled their emotions and drive.
Country Security: Will “my” president keep our country safe
from those who would harm us? Will he make sure our debts are paid and we are
free to be free? Will he encourage freedom of speech, free from political
correctness and full of truth? Will he be honest, open, and transparent? Christiana knew that the system had become so corrupt, the people must be kept safe from their own government.
How are decisions made? After the areas of concern are
identified, a decision must be made. In order to make a wise choice, there is a
process that is often helpful. In Personality Type Theory, such as in the
Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, psychological differences are separated into two
dichotomies or four opposite pairs. They help us see how people take in
information and then how they make decisions about that information. However,
we are usually only good at one of the four abilities, a little less talented
in a second, out of touch with the third, and blind to the fourth. To make a
decision, learn: “What I do not do naturally, I must deliberately do.”
The Decision Making Process
Now we begin. If one is a perceptive type, they enjoy
gathering information and never get around to a conclusion. If one is a judging
type, they gather a few pieces of data and rush off to make their decision
based on inadequate information.
In an organization, a good conclusion can be found by using
a model similar to Type Theory. None of these ideas were still in place in 2112, Christiana's era. Let us keep them alive. The decision making process is considered in four steps:
Gather information (Sensing) . . . Brain storm about those
facts (Intuition) . . . Use reality to decide among the most plausible possibilities
(Thinking) . . . Then decide if the decision will hurt anyone (Feelings). In an
attempt to determine for whom to vote, we don’t need a committee. However,
without others to bring their strongest abilities at decision making to the
table, we must practice wise choices on our own.
After the urgent topics have been identified, now we begin.
If one is a perceptive type, they enjoy gathering information and never get
around to a conclusion. If one is a judging type, they gather a few pieces of
data and rush off to make their decision based on inadequate information.
First gather all the information about each of your topics
as can be found. If one tends to make quick judgments, when all of the data
necessary to decide has been gathered, find at least twelve more points to
consider. If one loves researching and two milk crates have already been filled
with related articles and facts, it is probably time to stop gathering and move
on to the next stage.
Next brainstorm about all the pieces of information one has
gathered. Find as many possibilities one can conclude about the data. There are
no right or wrong answers at this point, only ideas, plausible or not. For
those who tend to be concrete and unable to opening brainstorm, get silly. Ask
a twelve year old what might happen if this or that decision is made. Shoot the
moon. Ideas can develop out of the strangest scenarios.
Then, use logic to separate the good ideas from the bazaar. “If
Candidate XYZ were elected based on my vote, what might he decide to do about
those issues that concern me based upon my understanding of the candidate’s
background, personal ethics, experience, and the people he gathers around him?
Finally, use feelings. “Who might
be hurt by my decision to vote for Candidate XYZ and the programs he would
promote as surmised by all the information that has gone into my decision
making process?”
That is all we can do. People were
not given crystal balls along with their first baby rattle. Our great nation
was based upon the belief that the people of this country are wise enough to
elect our own public servants. Will each of us always be right? Of course not
or we would have an election with one-hundred percent of the populous voting
for the same person. But, it has worked for over two-hundred years and every
election may decide if that election process will continue.
Decide what is important. Research
to find out what the candidates have said and/or have done to show they intend
to do something about the concern. Brainstorm, think logically, and then decide
if the decision is in the best interest of this country and the promotion of
liberty and freedom. Then, go vote.Christiana and her friends will escape the Central Zone to help bring back the privilages, such as voting, that will restore their country to the nation it had been before the great crisis. Vote now to make sure the life Christiana lives does not become our own reality. Read Length of Days - The Age of Silence - available as an eBook at www.amazon.com and www.bn.com.
Myers, Isabel
Briggs (1980). Gifts Differing: Understanding Personality Type.
Davies-Black Publishing; Reprint edition (May 1, 1995). ISBN
0-89106-074-X
