To the editor:

I am a Christian. At least I try to be, doing my best to follow the truths modeled by the life of Jesus.

Being able to vote is a blessing. In gratitude for that right, each year I cast my vote, carefully considering the deep moral choices which inform how I and, I hope the rest of us, live in a community of mutual care and responsibility.

Those choices are motivated by love:

¯ Love of myself and my neighbor, near or far, simply seeking who we are, and to love whom we choose;

¯ Love of those who are hungry, homeless, without access to healthcare or to any of the other basic necessities of life, because I am blessed with all those necessities;

¯ Love of the magnificence of the entire community of creation, as I seek ways to help reduce the effects of floods, fires and other calamities on my human and other-than-human relatives;

¯ Love of people from elsewhere seeking opportunities to nurture and sustain themselves and their families who might become my new neighbors;

¯ Love of peace, not just as an absence of war, but as an active, non-violent response to hate, discrimination, oppression, and fear.

Christian or not — these moral choices are shared by many who are part of a loving community.

Please consider your vote as an act of love.

Katharine Preston

Essex