Everyone, I would suppose, has had time to vent concerning the election problems that plagued Benton County voters in the recent election: Long lines, machines that malfunctioned, very few paper ballots available.

It’s a shame that Benton County has developed an election reputation. It is not new. The county is often the last, or has been one of the last, in the state to report results. There have often been machine problems, or paper ballot problems and, of course, long lines.

When you’re dealing with machines, or paper ballots, or even long lines, there can be frayed nerves, frustrations and more.

But, looking at and hearing from reports, I would wager at least one of those frustrations is experienced at polling places throughout the nation.

But now I want to take a different tack on the balloting in Gravette earlier this month. I want to compliment the poll workers for their patience, for their thoroughness and especially for the more than 12 hours they performed their frustrating jobs under notthe-best circumstances.

Also to be complimented are the voters. Waiting in line for an hour or two is frustrating. But the patience shown by all those I observed during my almost two-hour wait to vote was exemplary. Of course, there were comments. There were a few snide remarks. There were probably a few inappropriate thoughts that went through waiting heads. But, all-in-all, it was a peaceful, basically orderly process involving the more than a thousand persons who must also be complimented for one other thing ....

You turned out to vote, in record numbers!

So to you who patientlywaited, to you who came back several times to check the length of lines, to those who finally had to give up because of other obligations or health conditions that affected your decision ... to all of you: Congratulations! The American spirit is alive!

This brings up one other topic: Have you heard of petitions from disgruntled people in many states - some even from Arkansas - who say they want to secede from the union?

You’ve got to be kidding! Living in the best and freest nation in the world, who would want to abandon it? People, without really thinking, can sometimes do foolish things.

Maybe your candidate didn’t win. Maybe you don’t like the direction our nation seems to be headed. Perhaps you’ve experienced a loss of job, a decreased investment dividend, or an interest rate that is rubbing the bottom. Maybe you’re just mad.

Stop for a minute. Get your thinking cap on straight and ask yourself the question: Would I be better off in a no-man’s land where the future isguaranteed to be unknown and uncertain? Where? How? What would it reallybe like not being a part of the good old U.S.A.?

In this week of Thanksgiving, stop and give thanks for being born in, and a citizen of, America, or being one who is going through the lengthy legalprocess to obtain citizenship.

There have always been times of cloudy skies. There have been storms. There certainly have been times of uncertainty.

Take a lesson from thehearty, brave and determined souls who have given us and preserved for us this republic we so often mistakenly call a democracy, this Eden that outshines every other attempt at self-governmentdevised by mankind.

It’s time for all of us to pull ourselves up by the bootstraps, hunker down, and press into the brighter days we call tomorrow, remembering always those tomorrows can only be asbright as we make them and allow them to be.

Dodie Evans is editor emeritus of the Westside Eagle Observer. He can be reached at [email protected].

Opinion, Pages 6 on 11/21/2012