What to make of this mess?

As I write this, Joe Biden is in the driver’s seat to take the White House. He’s the favorite in Arizona, Nevada, and Pennsylvania. Georgia is a close race and a toss-up. There are votes to be counted still but they all seem to be favoring Biden as the lead gets narrower as more absentee ballots are counted which lean heavily in Biden’s favor.

Am I happy that Donald Trump is out of office? Of course. He’s a divisive and racist President that has no business representing the free world. Like most Americans, the election results will likely be an underwhelming result.

The White House will be won in a close call. The Senate seems to be headed towards staying Republican. Yes, there are more votes to be counted still and once the dust settles, it may not be as close as we all thought. But there’s no doubting that the blue wave didn’t happen as we had hoped.

Most of my friends and colleagues are saying the same thing. They can’t believe how many people out there are still voting for Trump.

It’s pretty obvious that we are in an unprecedented time in this country’s history. We are a deeply divided country trending towards more divisiveness. Both sides are treating each other like we’re rival nations and it’s getting nastier and uglier.

The next four years are going to be a pivotal moment in our country’s history.

Can Joe Biden and Kamala Harris unite this country? I remain hopeful, but we’ll have to wait and see. The message right now from the Democratic camp is unity and it seems that is priority for the Democratic agenda.

Going forward, we’re going to need to take a step back as a country. Both the Republican and Democratic parties need to do some soul searching. Although both the left and the right like to blame the other side, everyone needs to shoulder some of the blame for this mess of a state we are in right now.

The caricatures of the left and right by the opposing side is far from the truth. There’s good people on both sides despite what we may believe or what we see on social media.

We are at a crossroads right now as a country. We have work to do, but the forever optimist in me believes in the future of this country.