Last week as I was hiking with my grandkids on our favorite trail, I couldn’t help but make several observations. The first of these observations was that at my age I should know better than to think I can match the energy of a seven-year-old and a ten year old. To my surprise though, I came in a close second. As they explored and climbed and ran; I watched, and admired, and jogged. And except for their sprint to the finish line as they neared the end of the trail, I was there with them.

My second observation involved the trees. As I followed the trail through dense groves of cedars, maples, and oak trees stretching up from the forest floor, reaching to find the sun, it became clear that some of those trees had failed in their effort to survive. Some had succumbed to age while others had been pushed down by the fierce winds of a storm. While destined to crash to the ground, there were those whose fall had been arrested by a neighboring tree. Those trees hung suspended midway between their captor and the forest floor below. It was as if those trees refused to let one of their own give in to its fate.

As I walked, I thought about how people can be like those trees. We too can be knocked down. We too can fall. Sometimes it is life itself that knocks us down, but other times we might be pushed down by the very society that should be lifting us up. It might be another person who pushes us down, or maybe it’s an entire group of people that chose to push us down or hold us back. What can we as a society do to stop their fall? How do we catch them, or do we simply let them fall? It is said that until we fall, we cannot learn to rise, but is it their destiny that we let them fall, or our responsibility to be there when they cannot rise on their own?

We are in a very divisive political time. As we face this election, we have a choice, the choice to vote from our pocketbook or from our heart; to vote to protect our wealth or vote to protect our society. We get to make the choice. Will we offer a branch to catch the falling tree, or will we let it fall? We are that grove of trees, a society that whether we like it or not, depends on each one of its members to keep that society strong. The issues our society faces are numerous; our culture, our rights, our climate, our security, and our livelihoods. As you go to the polls, and I hope you do, consider the importance of these issues and then cast your vote to protect them. Let’s not be the one to just let the tree fall.