I minister in a fragile community that is learning to cross cultural and language divides.  Convinced that among other things, this work is about nation-building,  I consciously avoided any kind of political discussion in my workplace during this election season.  That was not always easy.  On a personal level, given our current financial realities, I was not in a position to make any financial contribution to the campaign of Barak Obama, as I did last time. That also was not easy  but I am grateful to have been able to do a bit of campaigning on his behalf week before last.

This morning, I read an article by Frank Rich (how I love and envy his writing) that captures far better than anything I can say, why this election mattered.   Those of us who are bridge people have an obligation, even now, when it would be so easy to simply move on, to try to find a way to keep talking across party lines.  

If you have the time, this article is worth reading: Frank Rich and the 2012 Elections