When I was in grammar school

I received a report every six weeks. I had to take it home and have it

signed by one of my parents.

My name and the name of the

school was on the front. When you opened it, the subject grades were recorded

on the left side. On the right side were little boxes that were checked

to the tune of satisfactory, needs improvement, unsatisfactory or something

to that effect regarding behavior. And always there was the space for

teacher comment on the back.

The topics on the right side

of the opened card went something like this: ___ Talks too much. ___ Listens

to and follows directions ___ Plays well with others.

That first little square was

the one that caused trouble for me for years. Once I mastered the art

of discreet note writing and passing (successful passing of the well drafted

piece of communication proved to be a challenge) then the check mark on

the right side disappeared.

I didn't have any problem listening

to and following directions and playing well with others. Maybe I was

lucky. I don't know.

I do know that everybody was

expected to have learned to listen to and follow directions by the time

we left sixth grade. As I recall, my sons were expected to know how to

do the same by the end of third grade.

I know now why it was important

to listen to and follow directions. Every gadget and appliance that I've

ever purchased has come with instructions to "read and follow directions."

I'm a woman. I know. Most forms that I fill out have the same instructions

at the top of the page.

What am I getting at? Our country

and all the world would never have gotten caught up in the confusion,

and unbelievably time-consuming, not to mention expensive, litigation

procedures of recent weeks if folks knew how to listen to, or read, and

follow directions.

Yep, I've heard the argument

about the rubber that may or may not have grown hard and prevented the

stylus from breaking through the paper to fully release the chad (the

little piece of paper that falls out when you punch a hole in a larger

piece of paper). It doesn't matter now.

On voting day when voters were

instructed to punch out the holes and examine the cards to be sure the

holes were made was when it mattered. If the voter did not follow directions

then the vote does not count. It doesn't even matter that voting officials

did not clean out the box that caught the chads, thus leading to chad

build-up. None of that matters now.

The deadlines matter now, deadlines

that have passed and that's life.

If I make a cake, and do not

follow directions, my cake might not be edible. I may have to throw it

out or settle for less than what I had envisioned before I failed to follow

directions.

I'm a wee bit irritated that

all the attention in this presidential election has been focused on Florida.

I have no doubt that the same problems which have become so evident in

the Sunshine State over the past four weeks have occurred all around this

country for years. Those problems and more.

Then there is the fact that

we almost always have disgustingly low turnouts every time voting day

rolls around. Such a privilege! Such freedom! Such abuse of privilege

and freedom!

My irritation grows. No man

or woman who refuses to learn all they can about the candidates and issues

and vote on the same deserves the right to gripe and complain about anything.

Not even in America.

Although Greta Van Susteren

is the only reporter who still has me wondering if she's a Democrat or

Republican, all in all CNN has done a remarkable job of covering this

election fiasco. I just hope they take to the limit their coverage of

the election procedures in America. We are not there yet, although I do

believe a president was decided days, perhaps weeks, ago.

We are an imperfect people

living in an imperfect world. What's done is done and we need to move

on. There are those on both sides of the political fence who feel that

four years of leadership by whichever candidate successfully "steals"

the election would be a terrible price to pay for voter error. I suspect

that the real price would be to not have learned from the events of recent

weeks. We need to begin focusing now on the next voting opportunity that

will be afforded us.

One thing's for sure, third

grade, even sixth grade, is too soon to drop those little squares where

we get graded on how well we listen to and follow directions, AND how

well we play with others. Perhaps, Yale, Harvard, and Princeton are among

those institutions who should take note.