Words matter. There is an old-fashioned word that we don’t hear much lately – “magnanimity.”   It means putting a higher good above personal interest.  

Sounds like a “highfalutin” word, but it is a simple word that we would do well to keep in mind with elections fast approaching.  

There are many kinds of threats and danger to one’s taking this magnanimity high road as anyone who has run for public office is well aware — baseless attacks, social media threats, threats from angry and sometimes deranged individuals, family safety concerns and much more.  

But, there are also moral threats to the candidates as the temptation to cave in for personal and financial gain looms strongly.  

No doubt politicians spend a great deal of time in the desert wrestling with demons.  Noticing how they leave the desert is our task.     

We have experienced up close the cost that individuals pay when they run for public office.  Our son, Stuart Amoriell, ran in the democratic primary against Blake Gendebien.  

While disagreeing on some issues, there was one overriding agreement between them — that those in Washington and elsewhere who would turn blind eyes to the dismantling of our country must be defeated, if we are to preserve our democracy.  

We witnessed in them what magnanimity means.  On the day after the election, we read with heavy hearts, our son’s concession speech.  In it, he called upon his supporters to support Blake, “not because politics demands it, but because the future we want demands it.”  

It was a painful defeat on a personal level, but never have we been prouder of our son.  We also saw Blake’s grace in victory.   

Blake and Stuart were in the moments following the primary election, two exhausted marathon runners appreciating full well what the other had been through and sacrificed.  It was a moment of mutual respect.  

We saw a photo of Blake and Stuart standing together after the election, both knowing they had a goal beyond themselves.  That photo is why, although we are the parents of Stuart Amoriell, we work on Blake’s campaign.  

We recognize that what’s at stake is far beyond personal feelings – it is the preservation of democracy.   

We invite you to compare Blake Gendebien and his opponent in the upcoming election and decide where magnanimity resides.  

The winning candidate for the House of Representatives District 21 will be asked to take an oath of allegiance to the Constitution.  

Who will be like Sir Thomas More in “A Man for All Seasons” cognizant that “When one takes an oath, they are holding their soul in their hands?”  Who of the two candidates recognizes the sanctity of that oath?        

So as election time approaches, let’s do our homework on the candidates and think about this old-fashioned word, magnanimity.

Voting is the highest measure of a democracy, but preserving rests with all of us in the coming days.   

We have a representative form of government called a republic, but when it comes to voting we are each called by name.   

When we enter the voting booth, a space sanctified by all who fought and died to preserve it in the past 250 years, let us remember that old-fashioned word, magnanimity, and give thanks for the opportunity to shade in those little circles.

Bill and Molly Amoriell
Colton