Laurels & lances: Politics & taking chances

Laurel: To getting through it. The election is over, and Pennsylvania made it through.

After months of candidates and journalists all but parachuting into the area to lobby for votes or cover the campaigning, it’s done. With the exception of a few races coming down to the wire with counting ballots, we know where we stand.

Now it’s time to remember two things. First, we are all in this together. Whether you like the way the presidential race turned out or feel betrayed by other people’s decisions, we are in the same boat. We can’t pray for it to sink without knowing we sink with it. We can only pick up a paddle and row.

Second, presidential races aren’t the only thing that matters. In 2025, Pennsylvania has Commonwealth Court, Superior Court and state Supreme Court seats on the ballot. Those make a difference in lives every day. So do the municipal and school board races that will be up, including the Pittsburgh mayoral race.

If you liked the results on Tuesday, keep voting. If you didn’t, keep voting. Showing up is the only thing that makes a difference.

Lance: To missed opportunities. Last week, an entry in the Mt. Pleasant Halloween parade depicted an act of ugly, political violence just days before the Tuesday election. The float showed a golf cart with people dressed as now President-elect Donald Trump surrounded by Secret Service agents. A rifle was mounted to the top. Another person costumed as Vice President Kamala Harris was bound and tethered to the back.

The tableau drew outcry as well as an apology from the Mt. Pleasant fire department, which organized the parade.

On Friday, a unity rally was scheduled. It was supposed to be an opportunity for members of both the Democratic and Republican parties to come together, showing that no one supported the blatant hostility shown at a family and community event.

Democrats including Westmoreland County Commissioner Ted Kopas and committee Chairwoman Michelle McFall showed up. Republican county commissioners and representatives of the GOP committee did not.

Maybe this was because the event was scheduled with less than a day’s notice. However, the event had the potential to show that politics should stop at the boundary of a child’s holiday. It didn’t.

Let’s hope that isn’t taken for permission to continue such behavior.

Laurel: To unexpected opportunities. Lilly Householder is captain of the Burrell High School soccer team. She created an online recruiting account hoping to have the chance to play soccer at the college level. That was her dream.

So imagine her surprise when she did get recruited — to row.

Householder has no rowing experience. That didn’t matter to Eastern Michigan University. They saw a tall, athletic girl with good grades, and that’s all that mattered to the coaches. They wanted potential. They could teach her to row.

That’s how she got a spot on the team and a scholarship to college, where she will study criminology with hopes of pursuing a career in law enforcement.

It just goes to show that how hard work can pay off in unforeseen ways.