Signs

Political signs are an interesting social interaction. When you post a sign in your yard you make a statement that I am for this and I don't care who knows it. There are always some folks that will disagree with your sign; so it is already a little 'in your face'. In our neighborhood we put up a sign for Kerry four years ago and shortly thereafter a neighbor put up a Bush sign. When the election came and it was a nail biter; we left our sign up. Kerry lost, but I couldn't quite bare to take my sign down; defeat just stung too much. Then I noticed that my neighbor left his sign up too; I have to say, it annoyed me. I left my sign up for several weeks as I struggled with accepting that the country still wanted more of Bush. To steal a phrase, I clung to my sign in bitterness.

As I was walking my dog around the block I noticed another Bush sign on a street several blocks from us that was still up, but there was a note taped on it. The note said "I am a Republican and I'm embarrassed that you leave up your sign. We won the election there is no need to rub it in the faces of our neighbors who voted for another party. I am raising two children and trying to teach them to be good sports; this sign makes it harder to tell them that Republicans are good sports." The note wasn't signed. I walked off and the next day saw that the sign was gone. When I went home that afternoon I finally found myself pulling the Kerry sign up and putting it in the garage. The day after that our neighbor finally pulled down his Bush sign.

Last night I watched as Obama's electoral votes crashed through 270 and he was the President Elect. It was a joyful moment and my family whooped and cheered. I went outside and took down my Obama/Biden sign. My wife was annoyed, but four years ago I remember thinking that if I ever am on the winning side my sign would come down straight away. Some times you can learn more from people that disagree with you than you can from your friends. I don't know that anyone will notice; but that anonymous Republican left me thinking about the proper use of signs; I hope this election finds him or her well.