Regardless of the outcome of the presidential election, it cannot be ignored that no matter how many times the votes are counted, the outcome will be incredibly close. I have tried (mostly in vain) to keep my caustic comments in check over the past couple of days and I believe that I have found the solution to my rapidly failing faith in the whole confusing, confounding yet absolutely necessary process that we call democracy.

These words were written by a dear friend of mine, Jessica Noble. Jessica is a third-grade student at Abraham Lincoln School in Bangor. My hope is that whoever is elected to be the president of the United States has the wisdom of this child. She addressed education, housing, health and well-being, medication pricing and the environment. She did this in one paragraph without offending anybody:

“If I Were President:

“I would assign more reading homework. I would make school longer. I would make school a better place. I would make more houses for homeless people. I wouldn’t let people eat too much junk food. I would make medication less expensive and plant lots of flowers.”

Heidi J. Tripp

Bangor