By JOHN P. CASTONGUAY
COLUMNIST
It is done. Finally, we know, maybe we almost know, who the next president of the United States is. Frankly, I am relieved. For the past two years and especially over the past two months, the American public has been subjected to an endless barrage of campaign ads on television, radio and social media. The media was only temporarily distracted by Syria, the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and Hurricane Sandy. Even these events were often covered through the lens of their impact on the presidential campaign.
Obviously the election was important in establishing our country’s path for at least the next four years, if not beyond; however, the overly-dramatic and sometimes hateful language that has become commonplace in referring to the election in recent months has made me look forward to it coming to a close as quickly as possible. On Tuesday morning, swastikas were painted on a church that opposed the legalization of gay marriage in the state of Maine. On the same morning, I received a phone call from my 91-year-old grandmother; she informed me that if her candidate did not win, she would have a heart attack. My social media pages have been flooded with official campaign ads and endless declarations of how each of my friends will be impacted by the result of the election.
While I am excited that my sometimes apathetic acquaintances are taking an active interest in the world, I am concerned when people who claim to be open-minded assert that a vote for anyone but their candidate is a vote motivated by hate. Note to my Facebook friends: Referring to any candidate (particularly ones as well-educated as these) as an idiot is not going to make me change my vote; neither will creating dopey memes or telling me I am a racist, sexist, homophobic, soulless person, if I do not vote for your candidate. I had hoped this was an isolated trend, but even members of the mainstream media picked up the vitriolic, useless attacks as the election drew to a close.
It would be easy to be disheartened by the mindless, melodramatic mud-slinging, but I find hope in the aftermath of the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. Although there are reports of disagreements in gas station lines, far more common are the stories of volunteers donating their time, and, in some cases, risking their lives to help friends and perfect strangers. Volunteers up and down the East Coast are turning out in droves to assist in putting our cities back together. Many Fordham students have already proven that New York actually is their campus by going out into the local community to help people put their lives back together. Although we may have forgotten it in the heat of the election, our actions in the wake of Hurricane Sandy prove that we recognize our shared humanity. Even if we are unhappy with the result of the election, these efforts demonstrate the hope and love that will protect our country’s future.
Please consider donating time in the weeks to come to help those impacted by the devastation caused by Hurricane Sandy.
