As the political season heats up, and the many television ads grow more intense, we find that snippets, labels, and lies are being bandied about with little concern for the truth. So what’s new about that? Nothing, except for the certainty with which we all tend to fall into one of three receiving groups: the right, the left, and the dropouts. I find myself solidly among the dropouts.

I especially dislike labels mainly because others make them; they generally elevate or demonize those so labeled with false attributes; and then the same labelers portray their words as truth filters for others. A case in point is that of six siblings who all support their seventh sibling’s opponent for a public office in Arizona because they see their own brother as an unreasonable and uncaring ideologue. In contrast, he sees them as haters of those who believe as he does. There is little communication between himself and them.

What can be said except even within families, we are all different. We cannot live our lives according to the desires of others. We all must find our own way, with our own consciences, and with our own limitations. Disparate thoughts do not portend the end for humanity.

Life everywhere is about choices. And making mistakes. We can believe in miracles, or not; we can accept or reject our circumstances as our minds, our consciences, and our experiences guide us. But as we mature, we all must learn from those we meet who are wiser, from those situations we encounter, from outcomes that succeed and from those that fail. We must also learn about our strengths and our limitations, while concentrating more on the former, and staying away from the latter. No two of us are alike. Some will find wealth, high positions, and great responsibilities. Many more will not, Still, there are more similarities in our lives than there are differences. But few outcomes in life are as sad to see as an aging person who hoards, or hates, or who believes that others owe him or her more.

I would and do pose this question to all candidates for public office: “Do you accept this fundamental premise about all human beings?-- “It is my responsibility to become a kinder, more caring, more loving, more understanding, more tolerant, and more forgiving person as I grow older and am able to make a bit more sense out of life and my place in it. Ultimately, it is my task to take less and less, to give more and more, and to die with nothing but with my soul intact. Only then can I say that I have lived my life reasonably well, although imperfectly. I expect the same from you—more or less.”

I will grant that everyone does not reach this state of either humility or enlightenment. But what is the alternative? If we are all in a constant state of change because we are all learners in life, then we are either moving toward those values or away from them. And if we are moving away from them, then we must be disconnecting from humanity more and more with each passing day. But where is the humanity in embracing a life that is constantly taking more, giving less, and is generally living with less and less honor?

Still, we cannot opt out of politics. To do so is tantamount to giving the ideologues free reign over us. And elections definitely have consequences. Oh, do they! Now, more than ever, we need to stay engaged.