Elections are not the main focus of my Column today, but I do want to highlight the fact that One Stop Early Voting begins on Thursday, Feb. 13, and will run until Saturday, Feb. 29, with Primary Election Day falling on Tuesday, March 3. 

Another highlight is that party affiliations of candidates for Judicial races are now listed, as follows:  NC Chief Supreme Court Chief Justice Seat featuring Justice Cheri Lynn Beasley(D) vs Justice Paul Newby(R); Two NC Supreme Court Associate Justice Seats, Phil Berger, Jr.,(R) vs. Lucy Inman(D), and Mark Davis (D) vs Tamara Barringer(R),  and five contested seats for NC Court of Appeals:  Seat 4: April Wood(R) vs. Tricia Shields(D); Seat 5: Lora Cubbage(D) vs Fred Gore(R); Seat 6: Chris Dillon(R) vs Gray Styers(D); Seat 7: Reuben F. Young(D) vs Jeff Carpenter(R); Seat 13: Jefferson  G. Griffin(R) vs Chris Brook(D).

In a future column, I will highlight several other contests, every one of which is very important to all of us. Now for this outlook on life:  There are so many wonderful things that people do for others every day. I began to highlight some of those things and I quickly realized that it would take several columns just to touch the surface. 

But we can be thankful for the many wonderful people who, through their love, provide a little bit of Heaven right here on earth. Still, it is sometimes difficult to be positive. Negative thoughts are going to occasionally enter our minds, but we can take comfort in knowing that we are blessed with the capacity to evict them. All of us are at times faced with difficulties in our lives, and they sometimes hit us when we least expect it, but we can, and we will, get through them. 

As the words in St. Francis' Prayer state so eloquently:  Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow LOVE;  Where there is injury, PARDON; Where there is doubt, FAITH; Where there is despair, HOPE; Where there is darkness, LIGHT;  Sadness, JOY.  Help me to seek not so much to be consoled, as to console; Not so much to be understood, as to understand; Not so much to be loved, as to love.  For it is in giving that we receive, it is in pardoning that we are pardoned, and it is in dying that we are Born to Eternal Life. AMEN! 

Now to close on a humorous note:  Three men - a Frenchman, an Italian, and a Jew were condemned to be executed. Their captors told them that they had the right to have their favorite meal before their execution. They asked the Frenchman what he wanted. "Give me some good French wine and French bread," he said. So they gave it to him, he ate it, and then they executed him. 

Next, it was the Italian's turn. 'Give me a big plate of Pasta,' he requested. So they brought it to him, he ate it, and they executed him. Now it was the Jew's turn. "I want a big bowl of strawberries," he said. His captors screamed, "Strawberries!! They aren't even in season!" To which the Jewish gentleman calmly replied, "I'll wait."

Have a wondrous day!