A little over three weeks ago, I was in the Intensive Care Unit wondering if I was going to make it through the night. I was in some pretty rough shape. The one thing that saved me from total panic was the thick fog that had enshrouded my brain. It was if I were a half step removed from everything going on around me.

Luckily, my story has a happy ending. I was stabilized and have been home recovering quicker than expected. I’ve gone from walking with a cane to walking for a half hour without one. I even hit the gym for a super light workout yesterday. So much of my life has changed in just a short amount of time. I have to be mindful of how and what I eat, make sure I stay mobile, build my strength and stamina, set up doctor appointments, and take my meds, some of them unpleasant.

Needless to say, I’ve had my share of downtime, and also time for reflection. Allow me to take a dip into waters I never tread.

It’s been impossible to avoid the election madness leading up to this Tuesday. If I see one more TV ad or find one more postcard in my mailbox, I’ll scream into my pillow, unless my cat Salem is close by. Don’t want to frighten him. He’s kinda skittish.

Since 2015, the word hate has been thrown around as if it were free samples of General Tso chicken at the mall food court. The country is split with hating the candidates. They hate people who oppose their candidate or point of view. They hate Washington. They hate the media. They turn on each other and hate close friends and family.

We’ve all seen and heard some awful things over the past eight or nine years. I watched whole families crumble just because we’ve somehow forgotten how to have civil discourse. People in the horror community and beyond have said and done terrible things, all in the name of ‘my candidate is better than yours’. They talk about the country devolving into socialism or totalitarianism. They rant and rave and provoke and, sometimes, assault.

Stop. Please, please, stop.

None of the things we’ve been told to fear will come to fruition. Our country is run by a giant, and I admit, in need of repair, machine. No one person can topple almost 250 years of history. That’s it. Plain and simple.

This hate, this fear, it’s all a waste of time. I’ve ‘hated’ doctors my entire adult life. Let me tell you, there wasn’t a shred of hate when I was in that ICU, wondering what the hell was happening to me. Nor has there been any of the ‘h’ word during my many follow up visits.

“Darkness cannot cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate. Only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

Because in the end, we all need each other. Everyone brings something to the table, whether it be a rare or special skill, knowledge or wisdom, love, an act of kindness, or even something as simple as a smile on a day when you feel like a dark cloud is following your every move.

If after Tuesday, your side wins, win with dignity. And if your side loses, lose with dignity. Keep the peace. Make your voice heard, peacefully. We must find a way to stop the division and fighting that has been stoked by all sides. Evil loves chaos and hate and dissent. All of this anger has gotten us nowhere. It’s time to move forward and shake off this whispering devil that has been crouched on our shoulder for too long.

In the end, this isn’t a post about politics. It’s a plea for a return to sanity, to loving one another, to peaceful coexistence. Because the dissent has stretched way beyond the political arena. Stop watching and following people who drag us down. Stop filling your mind with hate.

I don’t know about you, but I have plans for Wednesday and beyond. None of them involve living in a world turned upside down just because one person gets to live in a fancy house, and another doesn’t. I have family dinners, birthday parties, holiday celebrations, visits with friends, books to read and write, new things to explore, movies to watch, Final Guys and Monster Men podcasts to record, daughters to see get married and hopefully give me grandkids. You have plenty of wonderful things to experience, too. Let’s all live our lives peacefully and lovingly.

Pretty please.