Remind the believers to submit to the government and its officers. They should be obedient, always ready to do what is good. They must not slander anyone and must avoid quarreling. Instead, they should be gentle and show true humility to everyone. – Titus 3:1-2

Friday Rebekah and I drove over to Wake Forest to take care of a few things. We worked in the garden, we did some cleaning in the house, we had lunch with our most excellent realtor, John, and we made our way to the Regional Center on Holding Avenue to cast our ballots.

Wow! Talk about a crowd! We waited (with some wonderful people) for close to two hours. Standing in line in the cool air and brilliant sunshine, talking with people I didn’t know, seeing so many folk waiting so patiently and politely, feeling the positive vibe of all of us doing our civic duty, it made me well up with pride and feel so thankful to be an American.

An election here in the U. S. of A. is a beautiful thing, unparalleled anywhere in this wide world. How dare anyone cast aspersions on something so fundamental and so important and so carefully calibrated and so one hundred percent baseball Chevrolet and apple-pie definitive of America!

In Wake Forest Friday the checks, the double checks, the verifications, the care and more were all scrutinized efficiently and politely by a well organized team of poll workers.

Elections are administered and tabulated locally, supervised by a non-partisan board of dedicated folk. All we have to do is to pay attention and it is clear to see that everything is above board, careful, fair, double and triple checked and independent of the party or president in power.

To disrespect the work, or the motives, or the integrity of these poll workers and their commitment to “free and fair” is to disrespect America; it’s like burning the flag or dissing the national anthem or shooting a bald eagle or slapping your mother!

Good grief.

Meanwhile….

Meanwhile, back at 622 Elmwood Court Rebekah and I worked hard the rest of the day, and we strategized with our realtor, and then we filled the SUV to overflowing with garden stuff.

Friday was a good day. I have been a citizen of this amazing country now for 39 years. I am so very proud to be an American and I am confident that my vote – just like yours – means something, something critically important.

Friday Rebekah and I voted – and we are voting alongside thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions and tens of millions of fellow Americans who all believe that our votes count and that our community runs elections we can believe in…

And the experience made me feel so authentically American I’ve got to tell you, I almost cried.

Peace, friends – and I mean that in every possible way – DEREK