It would be wonderful to write about something that could bring a smile to one’s face, cause a deep belly laugh, and watch the tears of happiness run down the cheeks of the citizens of the world, but sadly that is not today’s reality.

Wonderful is not always easy, and the sad truth is that in today’s society laughter and smiles are not what are most prevalent. The tears we have seen of late are not from laughter, but from tragedy. This has truly become our “summer of discontent” in America.

After watching the Republican National Convention this past week, and listening to the speakers shout their messages of fear and their dislike of the opposing candidate (and the speakers at the Democratic National Convention play the same game), it made me think of a book by John Steinbeck. In his novel, “The Winter of our Discontent” Steinbeck said, “In business and in politics a man must carve and maul his way through men to get to be King of the Mountain. Once there, he can be great and kind – but he must get there first.” Shouting about how terrible things are in this country and continuing to try and convince everyone that the sky is falling, won’t get Trump into the White House. Giving in to the cries for socialism by the Bernie Sanders’ supporters won’t put Hillary there either. There must be a balance.

Trump needs a plan, and he needs to share that plan with the American people, and then he needs to convince us that his plan will make things better, safer, greater, and affordable. It is time for him to stop blustering, grandstanding, and calling people names like a spoiled second-grader. It is time for him to get on with developing a plan that we can believe in and that he can deliver.

The Democratic candidate, Hillary Clinton, must also put her plan out for the voting public to see. There is much that is needed in our country, and it can’t all be free, nor can the taxpayers continue to shoulder the burdens of paying for everything from welfare, Medicaid, infrastructure improvements, wars in foreign lands, or illegal immigration. Hillary cannot afford to move too far to the left, she must show that she is the candidate for everyone, especially the taxpayer who has been overburdened, under-employed and underpaid.

As a high school English teacher, I spent a great deal of time reading about and discussing many of the great American authors with my students; Steinbeck was one. When Steinbeck wrote “The Winter of Our Discontent,” he wrote it as a novel depicting a time and place in which men were struggling during the Eisenhower era. Much of what he wrote back then is familiar today. We are still struggling as a nation with moral issues – more children are being raised in single parent households, and more young adults are not working in meaningful jobs. People are dissatisfied and feel that they are being left behind, and many are justified in those feelings. But things don’t have to be that way!

Trump has convinced us that the greatest enemy to our way of life is the illegal immigrant coming across the border from Mexico and taking our jobs, bringing drugs and mayhem to our cities and villages. He has managed to instill fear in the very hearts and souls of otherwise reasonable people. He has men and women immediately weary and distrusting of those who are different. The very conditions that existed in Steinbeck’s novel are exactly parallel to those we are witnessing today. We are truly a society that is fixated on one-upmanship, greed; take what you can when you can, dishonesty and delusion.

These attitudes are serving the Trump movement well, and breeding self-doubt and corruption, betrayal and fear from coast to coast; but we are better than that. We don’t have to become the character in Steinbeck’s book. In his novel, Steinbeck reminds us that, “A day, a livelong day, is not one thing but many.” We need to hold onto that thought and make today, tomorrow and everyday in the future all that it can be.

In his novel, “The Winter of Our Discontent,” Steinbeck wrote, “To most of the world success is never bad. I remember how, when Hitler moved unchecked and triumphant, many honorable men sought and found virtues in him. And Mussolini made the trains run on time, and Vichy collaborated for the good of France, and whatever else Stalin was, he was strong. Strength and success – they are above morality, above criticism. It seems, then, that it is not what you do, but how you do it and what you call it.”

Think about that for a minute, is anyone truly above morality, criticism, judgment? I think not. I believe we have the power to choose our destiny. I believe we have the ability to move beyond America’s “summer of our discontent.”

When we look at the two candidates for President of the United States, we must ask ourselves which one can really do what they say? Which one can lead this country into a time of prosperity for all? Which candidate can truly do the work of the president knowing that they were elected to serve the people of the United States, not the other way around? These are not superfluous questions, they are real, and we need to consider them when voting in November. We can’t vote for the loudest, the richest, or the one in the most silk suits, strength and success are often quiet and understated and sometimes underrecognized.

We live in the greatest country on earth; we need to make sure it stays that way. American writer, E.B. White said, “I arise in the morning, torn between a desire to save the world and a desire to savor the world. That makes it hard to plan the day.” I believe we can do both.

Have a great day.

Vicki Westling is a Dunkirk resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com