As I prepare to rest on this night before the election, I wondered what were the words I wanted to contribute to this moment in time. I realized that I had already shared the words on my heart with a Facebook friend in response to a status she posted earlier today. Here are my words of encouragement to my countrymen and women.

There is such a need for everyone to return to their corners and take a breath and remember that civility is required if we want to reach a place of cooperation and effective governance. It is not only possible to sit in the room and discuss topics with people who hold differing ideologies, it is that civil discourse that can make America a wonderful place to live.

Watching the state of our nation right now breaks my heart because there are many people, good people, who seem to be at a loss as to how to climb out of this mud pit we are in now.

The answer is not to continue screaming at each other from across the aisle and while the media certainly isn’t helping the situation there is something that I know that can help.

Every single one of us has the power within ourselves to say,

Enough! I will not feed into this cheapening of the ideals behind the true American Dream.

Enough! I will not scream at someone who holds a differing opinion from me.

I will strive to have calm conversation. I will work to facilitate civil discourse. I will take care to watch how I converse about politics in person, online and most especially in the presence of young, impressionable minds.

It’s hard, because it is very human to raise your voice when someone comes at you screaming. That’s why Christ modeled how we are to deal with conflict as followers of the faith.

I believe that if we all look inside ourselves and commit to reigning in our reactions we can begin the hard work of coming back together in fellowship as brothers and sisters. And those who choose to continue misbehaving will lose their audience and hopefully seek after a better way to engage with us.

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Marta C. Youngblood is the founder and creative engine behind TheWRITEaddiction creatives co-op founded in 2014 as a virtual community supporting writers from all over the United States of America. Marta’s passion drives her to support the success of creatives from all walks of life to honor their talent and share it with the world. She believes that working in our creative callings does not have to be synonymous with being a “starving artist” and helps creatives master the business skills and strategies they need to work in their gifts.