Today is the big day! Election Day 2024. Today, one way or the other, the political ads will be over, and we can finally get back to more important commercials about beer, incontinence, and the fancy new weight loss drugs.
If you pay attention to the political ads and news coverage you may believe that the outcome of the election will mark the end of days if it doesn’t go your way. The messages from the candidates’ campaigns are ominous. They all paint a stark win or lose, do or die, fail or thrive future. It is as if our very existence rests on the outcome of this election.
But none of that is true. Whatever happens, we will be fine. We can and will survive anything that comes our way. We have endured the Civil War, The Great Depression, and the Disco era. We have faced the oil crisis, the mortgage crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic and the toilet paper crisis. They all did their best to sink us. But America is the Molly Brown of countries.
I have voted in every presidential election since I turned 18. I carefully studied the candidates and how their beliefs aligned with mine. I looked at how their policies would impact my personal freedoms and finances. I considered how they would act to help others in my community and country. I evaluated how the candidates would affect our relationships with other countries and world peace. Then I carefully voted for what I believed to be the best candidate. Just like a good American should.
However, the candidate I voted for has only won half of the elections. Which means that, in theory, the person who wanted the opposite of what I wanted won the other half of the contests. Yet, ob-la-di, ob-la-da, life has gone on.
It is easy to get caught up in the hype and extremism of a political election and think that there are clear winning and losing scenarios for the masses. But history would indicate otherwise. You will naturally lose roughly half the elections you vote in. And when you lose, America will still be full of moms, baseball and apple pie. And you can still share all of those things on Facebook, Instagram and Tik Tok. Plus, you will still get to vote again in 4 years. And the pendulum always swings. Like Benny Goodman. And the Squirrel Nut Zippers.
So today as the last of us vote, and tonight as you watch the results come rolling in, remember, it will all be okay. There is more than one way to lead our country. There are pros and cons to each style, and each belief system. It’s why roughly half the country agrees with your thinking and half the country doesn’t understand you.
I respect that political positioning forces the campaigns to market the candidates ideas and ideals as diametrically opposed. But at the end of the day, both sides want to continue developing a great America. They just have different ways of going about it. Which means they are focused on pulling different levers, and pushing different buttons on the Wonkivator to get the machine to perform at its best.
America is a great country. Because it was founded by rebellious people who believed there was a better way of countrying. And America has attracted great and rebellious people ever since (think David Bowie and Billy Idol) who have continued to bring new and better ways of countrying.
Sure, we have unsolved problems. And we always will. Because life is one long problem solving adventure. We will continue to work towards better approaches to equality, security, safety, prosperity, health and peace. We just have different beliefs in how it is done. Neither approach is 100% right. And neither approach is 100% wrong. There ain’t no good guy. There ain’t no bad guy. There’s only Americans, and we just disagree. But that’s ultimately what makes the system work.
Key Takeaway
Things are going to be okay. There will be a lot of drama beginning tonight. It may last for months. But we will all be okay. Both candidates approaches generally work. We will continue to improve our country, our security and our economy no matter who is in the White House. Because ultimately, it all comes down to what we the people do.
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On Monday I flew from Milwaukee to Cleveland for work. I was excited about the trip. And not just because I have seen all 3 of the Hastily Made Cleveland Tourism Videos. (If you haven’t seen them before take a moment now. You’ll thank me later.)
The trip had been planned for 5 months. And you know what they say about the best-laid plans…
Here is a list of things that went wrong with my travel:
My Sunday morning flight from Milwaukee to Cleveland was canceled.
I was rebooked on connecting flights 24 hours later.
My return flight from Cleveland to Chicago Monday evening was delayed by 4 hours.
I missed my connecting flight from Chicago to Milwaukee.
I arrived in Chicago at 11pm Monday night.
All rental cars were sold out.
There were no buses to Milwaukee
I had to spend the night in Chicago.
On the way to my Chicago hotel the cab driver kept taking wrong turns and turned a 15-mile cab ride into a 25-mile ride.
I had to sternly talk to him about his mistakes and let him know I wouldn’t pay for them.
I checked into my hotel at 1am
Tuesday morning I had to take a bus from O’Hare Airport to Milwaukee’s General Mitchell Field.
Getting my work on, on a bus!
That Was Interesting
It’s easy to say I had a terrible trip. But it was amazing! I would do it all over again in a second. Here’s why.
1. The Talk
The travel to Cleveland was for a speaking engagement. I got to talk to teachers, and teachers of teachers, at the NAEYC 2022 Professional learning Institute. (To know what NAEYC is just click the link.)
Here’s me and one of my slides. Which is not as fun as a slide on a playground.
I shared lessons from my book What Does Your Fortune Cookie Say? The audience was amazing. They listened intently, asked great questions, laughed at the funny parts, and they made the whole trip worthwhile, even with all the surprises. Thanks to my friend Jenn Koel for inviting me to speak.
Look, no one is asleep!Talking to attendees and signing books.Me and Jenn Koel of ACCESS. Jenn was one of the first people to request a speaking engagement after my book was published.
2. The Once In A Lifetime Experience
After my talk, I thought I would have an uneventful flight home. But my flight from Cleveland to Chicago was fouled up by the epic thunderstorms that rolled through Chicago like a Garth Brooks song on Monday evening.
If you know your Great Lakes geography (I know most of you don’t), you know that Cleveland lives a few hundred miles east of Chicago. And if you know your garden variety weather patterns, you know that weather typically flows from west to east.
This means that a flight from Cleveland to Chicago would pass a storm system traveling from Chicago to Cleveland like 2 youth sports teams high-fiving each other after a game. #GoodGameGoodGameGoodGameGoodGame
And that’s exactly what happened with my plane and that thunderstorm.
Once our 6:45pm flight finally left Cleveland around 10:30pm we started seeing flashes through the windows on the right side of the plane. However, I was in a window seat on the left side of the plane. Boo.
As a storm lover, I was eager to see what was happening on the other side of the aisle. (Kinda like a political pundit.)
When we first pushed back from the gate in Cleveland 4 hours earlier the plane was completely full. But because of the delays we returned to the gate and deplaned like Tattoo from Fantasy Island. Many of my flightmates were rebooked because of missed connections. So when we finally reboarded for The Windy City about 1/3 of the seats were empty.
I looked around and noticed the exit row on the right side of the plane was now empty. So I snuck down the aisle and slipped over to the window seat. I eagerly peered out the airplane window. And I was awestruck by what I witnessed.
I have been in a hurricane. I have seen the northern lights in Alaska. I have seen thundersnow. And I have seen lightning strike the same place twice within minutes, just yards from where I was standing. But none of the epic Mother Nature shows I have seen were as intense as what I saw out that little plane over Northern Ohio and Indiana.
The strobe lightning was non-stop until we reached Chicago. I filmed and photographed the storm so I could share what I saw.
On Tuesday, while riding the bus from Chicago to Milwaukee, I shared a video on Twitter. Fox News retweeted it. Then I was contacted by numerous media outlets asking if they could reshare the video. I have also been asked for interviews about the experience. Crazy right?
I assume someone below yelled ‘Rat Farts!’ on a golf course.
Here’s another video I took that you are seeing here first.
This pairs nicely with the song Thunderstruck by AC/DC.
The Twitter Activity
In 24 hours this has been seen over 14,000 times on Fox’s Twitter account alone.
Key Takeaway
Look for the good things in life and you will find them. Because of this trip, I made new friends, I enjoyed new experiences and I was able to share some of the best lessons I know with people who were eager to hear them.
Because of my flight delay going home, a window of opportunity opened that allowed me to witness the most incredible light show I have ever seen. (Sorry Trans Siberian Orchestra Pyrotechnics Director.)
After hours of delays, the view out of my window was so incredible and lasted so long, that I would have paid money and waited again just to see the show.
I will forget about the time I spend waiting for the plane. I won’t worry about the night I had to spend in Chicago or the bus ride back to MKE.
But I can never unsee what I saw out that plane window. So I’m not mad. Not even a little. I’m thankful for the opportunity, and the experience.
Remember to look for the great gifts that are wrapped in bad paper. And you will accumulate more rewards than you can imagine.
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I am in New Orleans right now. I love this city. There is nothing else like it. Not even Old Orleans. The combination of architecture, music, history, food, geography, climate, and culture makes New Orleans both a truly unique city and a distinct brand.
Every time I am in NOLA I see the saying Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler. I’m not sure if it is the official or unofficial motto of the city. But it means Lazy The Bones Temporarily 12-inch Wooden Stick. No. Wait. That is what I told my kids it means.
The real translation of this French phrase (for those who have never dated anyone from New Orleans, France, Quebec, or Haiti) is Let The Good Times Roll.
I love this phrase. It is a great motto for a night out, a vacation, a celebration, or a life well-lived. It represents such a fun-loving, positive attitude that the saying and the mindset it creates helps manifest more good times. Like Jimmie Walker, which is dyn-o-mite!
Me and my muffuletta at Napoleon House, right before the guy in the tank top asked me to dance.
We as a planet now have a variety pack of COVID-19 vaccines to get the corona-cooties under control. So let’s all do our part. And put this pandemic behind us. Let’s get back to full business and full employment. Let’s all enjoy the prosperity available in the 21st century. Let’s enjoy our time together, our sense of freedom, and all the social pleasures we now realize we too often taken for granted. Let’s put down our little digital devices and enjoy being with other humans. Let’s eat, drink, play, create, explore and experience the best life has to offer. And like they say in New Orleans, Louisiana, let’s let the good times roll!
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Adam Albrecht Blog 