Consider This

Like many Americans this year, I wasn't thrilled will either candidate nominated in this past election. Additionally I was less thrilled with the results. Nevertheless, I still voted. To those of you who didn't vote for whatever reason, that's ok. It was YOUR choice. Just like it was MY choice to vote for whoever I wanted. Even if my party didn't win, as an American I will respect my President and continue to show love for my country.
America is the country that the rest of the world looks up to. Even in my little Swaziland, I had almost all of my colleagues at school engaged in this election. People look to us for leadership, for direction, for inspiration, and for a new start. Sometimes when we're stuck in our situation we forget how good we really have it. Thankfully at this point in American history I am glad that I have the chance to step back and take a look at all the positive things about our country, although it does get discouraging when reading some facebook statuses.
Prior to November 6^th, I had a lot of people ask me who I was voting for and they asked my opinion about Obama. You should see the shock on their face when I told them that he wasn't really my cup of tea, but once I gave factual substance to support my view they certainly understood. Then when Obama won, those same people were sympathetic and respected my choice. I wish people back home could be more like that….. The thing I loved most though was everyone's sense of support and admiration for our government. The morning after the election, my Head Teacher sent me an email saying he was sorry my candidate had lost, but congratulated us on a successful election. I had another expat say how much he admired our people in the fact that despite there being more than one party, we as Americans rally behind the person who won. I have more instances where people were just so impressed about how our electoral system works and how much they like democracy.
    For those who don't know, Swaziland is one of the last absolute monarchies in existence today. They have a king, Mswatii III who still holds all the power. To set the record straight, I am not disrespecting any one government or government authority, but I wish to purely compare and discuss the nature of my American government that I see so many of my fellow citizens taking for granted. Here, the king is not voted for, he is chosen amongst the royal family and he is king for life. The people here are subjected to him and must follow what he says. Yes, there is a parliament that is voted in, but ultimately the king still has the final say. One Swazi made the comment to me that really put things into perspective. He said, "If you guys have a bad president he will be out within 4-8 years, and if he wants a second term he will actually try to do a good job to get reelected. We on the other hand don't have that system. A king could be good or bad, it doesn't really matter because he will be king for life." If you really think about what that statement means, especially how it affects the Swazi people, you won't want to take our democracy for granted.
Civilization was founded on monarchies; the Old Testament is littered with them. 1 Samuel 8:6-11 even tells the story of the Israelites asking God for a king to rule over them. So I am not saying monarchies are bad. The root of what I am saying though is found in the scripture passage I just mentioned. The Israelites thought they could do better than God. They saw what other nations where doing and they wanted that. The warning with that comes in 2 Timothy 4:3-5, there will be a time when people will ignore what they know is right for what they want to hear and makes them feel good. What I am seeing today in America is that likeability is more favored. We want to do what will please people and not necessarily what is morally right. Sadly, some of those who see this problem continue to only see the negative and again, get stuck with just complaining. Like I said in the beginning of this post, I am glad that I get a chance to step outside America and see all that is good. Yes America is not in the best place it could be, but we are still very very fortunate that we have the power to change the course of the nation and we can do so freely without fear.

I will end with this passage founded in 1Samuel 12:14-16 [this is Samuels farewell speech].
        "If you fear the Lord and serve and obey Him and do not rebel against His commands, and if both you and the king who reigns over you follow the Lord your God—good! But if you do not obey the Lord, and if you rebel against His commands, His hand will be against you, as it was against your ancestors. Now then, stand still and see this great thing the Lord is about to do before your eyes!"