Choices made today will define how this world will move forward.
I will be affected by the result, as will every citizen of this continent (and planet), but I will not have a part in how this all plays out.
This is not my election.
Canada has many difficulties, and our sometime problematic political system is one of them, but we have not had to (and are unlikely to) face the issues you are contending with.
There is noting to compare today’s presidential election to, but our country and the world, will be watching.
We share a long, principally unguarded, border with the United States, which is not hindered by fences or ideals. We share a similar culture, but have our own race issues, environmental concerns, and our own type of political and economic corruption.
Our money is different, but it’s value rests on what happens in the U.S..
I have spent months into years looking down on America, and I say that only from the perspective of a northerly neighbour.
Right now, the psyche of the U.S.A. is threadbare. So much damage has been done over these past years. You are hurting, I can tell. It is obvious.
I can see.
Sadly, there will not be a clear winner today.
The shadow of this election will loom long.
The U.S.A. is so polarized that civil unrest is not just likely, but guaranteed. It’s sad. The fact that Wal-Mart has removed guns and ammunition from its retail shelves in the days prior to this election is just one example of the potential this humble Canadian sees. The American retailer has built its global dominance in both capitalism and greed; I know Wal-Mart will sell almost anything to anybody if there is profit involved.
Nobody will profit from the destruction this election campaign has cost your country.
Regardless of which candidate and party is victorious in 2020, you all have healing to do. The pain will continue for quite some time.
You have, collectively, made that choice.
After today you will have to live with the results.
And we Canadians will watch with both sympathy and compassion at what has happened, or what will happen, as it happens.
While we will feel your pain, we have our own fractures, and bruises, and scars.
It hurts in a different place.

11/03/2020                                        j.g.l.