I feel uneasy as we make our way toward the upcoming presidential election. My anxiety is not rooted in whether my candidate wins or loses but upon what is happening to the electorate in the process. Both major candidates have taken a position that unless he or she wins, our democracy will be lost, and therefore, you must vote a particular way in order to save the country.

As I hear that, I remember that such a stance has been taken by candidates before. But I have not witnessed the intensity that presently exists. Recent years have given rise to a political polarization that has fed such intensifying ill will that we have become a deeply divided electorate whose forces are highly suspect of those on the other side.

The election will come and go in November, and a winner will be declared. But what will have happened to the electorate—those whom the elected will lead? Will we have sacrificed our national unity for the sake of being on the winning side? Will we have lost our integrity through intolerance of those who think differently?

I suggest we all try to become more respectful of those who may be on the “other side,” including the candidate of their choice. My hope is that, while affirming our political divesity, we will work to protect the unity of that which is paramount—our neighbors, our colleagues, our nation, and our wider world.

Let’s reign in any overzealousness lest we “kill the goose that lays the golden egg.”