Post-election sentiments.

As I was reading the election results a minute ago, our puppy came up and dropped a tennis ball in front of me. I thought, "you know, it would be a good day to be a dog."

• A dog doesn't have to wonder whether the election results would have been different if he had prayed harder.
• A dog doesn't have to wonder whether the election results would have been different if he had done more to encourage others to vote or done more to support a particular candidate.
  
• A dog doesn't have to think about the people who agreed with him on most things but didn't vote because they didn't think they could support "the lesser of two evils," and he doesn't have to wonder if the election results would have been different if they had just voted.
• A dog doesn't have to wonder if the moral culture in the country will get worse after the elections.
• A dog doesn't have to worry about fellow dogs being encouraged to get abortions, or being aborted themselves, partially as a result of the decisions of the people that got elected. And, back to the first few, a dog doesn't have to wonder whether or not he could have done more to keep those people from being elected
• A dog doesn't have to sort through the varying news reports and try to figure out who's being biased and who's telling the whole story.
• A dog (at least one in a home rather than in a shelter) doesn't have to think about the economy. Of course, if its owners lose their jobs or something it could affect him, but he's blissfully ignorant. Plus, it would take a pretty bad recession to hurt him since his needs are pretty simple anyway. The people's mp3 players would probably go before his kibble. At least, i hope they would.
  
• A dog doesn't have to think about foregin policy. Another blissfull ignorance. And, of course, there aren't many things dogs are at war with each other over right now, so he doesn't have to wonder what causes are worth the life of a dog, or what is the best way to protect the rights and freedom of dogs both locally and globally.
  

Of course, dogs can't know the joy of working for a cause, or of seeing victory. But on this day, when my meager contribution to the process has proved fruitless, when i'm concerned about the future of my state and my country, and when the mixed messages from the media outlets leave me genuinely confused about the issues in the first place, for this day it'd be nice to be a dog.