As I follow the presidential race, the frustrations that I am feeling while surfing the different news media outlets are unbearable, and I am sure that I am not alone. To me, it just doesn’t seem that this is just a presidential race, but it’s also turned into a no holds barred, free for all.

It’s too reminiscent of watching a “fight” break out like the ones you see scripted out watching professional wrestling as kids: two polarizing individuals “talking smack” into a build-up of epic proportions, beating their chests as if they were the Alpha Male whilst playing out towards the crowds emotions. Then the back and forth fighting commences, until a winner is “determined.” That winner, raises his hands up, and riles up the crowd, hero or bad guy.

And the crowd ends up excited, or furiously disappointed. Either way, the crowd got sucked in to the narrative that was created behind the scenes to leverage popularity. However the outcome ends up, someone will be happy, many will be upset. But, it keeps people glued to the set, right?

For many people, it is hard to distinguish what is real, and what is all drawn up just to boost numbers. Some candidates just seem to spew twisted words out into public to incite hatred amongst individuals, and that hatred is turning people into something that is ever so shocking to see anymore. Individuals are mob-beating people at campaign rallies. Those who have a right to display their religious affiliation are mocked and ridiculed just because they look like “the enemy.” People are also being thrown out into the cold just because someone doesn’t like the way that they look, or they just said something “stupid.”

Is this our narrative now? Is this what our country is going to become?

I am going to date myself a bit, but the first time that I was eligible to vote, I saw a country fatigued by an on-going process of trying to determine the winner of that election. Fighting was taking place between the camps of the candidates because of hanging chads on a ballot, or selections could not be confirmed because ballot marks were off-center. The fight went on for so long, but a concession finally took place, and the battle was over.

The battles that took place between candidate supporters were, at the time, mob-like. People were disappointed in the actions of these supporters, but these protests were mild compared to what we see now. I can only imagine what this all looks like to the individual that is voting for the first time this year, and I can’t help but feel sorry for them a bit. Candidates are showing that there is no limit to gaining support, and it doesn’t matter what it takes to get it whether it be mud-slinging, or blood shed by those that don’t agree with you. Most of the time now, it’s hard to tell if candidates are telling the truth (or half-truth), or if what we are hearing is just a flamboyant lie.

Equal to the narratives that many watched on Saturday nights way back when.

The only thing that I am seeing now is a version of a muscle-bound soap opera spilling into reality. A version that is spilling into the crowd and could possibly cause some great harm to our country and what we stand for. But this mayhem is not quite over yet.

We have nine more months to go.