I learned a lot about politics this year while working in the newsroom during the election period.  I got a glimpse of the good and the bad, the honesty and downright dishonesty that comes from people trying to gain power.

 I walked away from the election with an entirely new perspective of the extent to which politicians and their supporters will go to in order to get into office.  So I wasn’t all that surprised when I read a recent survey that said politicians are not highly ranked in some people eyes. What did catch me by surprise – how low some of those opinions are of politicians in comparison to other unpleasant and disliked things!

Sit down for this one because this might come as a bit of a shock.  People have a higher opinion of root canals, NFL replacement refs, head lice, colonoscopies, traffic jams, Brussel sprouts, used-car salesman and cockroaches than they do of some politicians.  

I laughed for a second and then started thinking about some of the things I had seen play out.  I might have to agree with some of these people.

My children have had lice and it is a nasty bug.  It takes hours, days, months to clean up from the devastating aftermath of that little bug.  An army of lice is so difficult to beat that even a five-star general might be tempted to retreat from the battle.  But compared to some of the actions of some politicians, I can see how lice might be preferred over a politician.

People who have a higher opinion of Brussel sprouts and cockroaches, I can relate to as well.  I mean you can gag a few Brussel sprouts down and then it is done or stomp on a cockroach or get some bug spray and they are gone.  No matter how much you gag or how much roach spray you use, lots of elected officials are here for the long haul.

This survey should get some politicians to think.  If an elected official is supposed to represent a community, city or the entire country, why aren’t they striving to represent the people in hopes that those people will have a higher opinion of them then lice, traffic jams and NFL replacement refs?  It baffles me.

The upside for politicians is that the survey did point out that people do have a higher regard for the elected official over the Kardashians,  meth labs and the ebola virus.  At least they have that going for them.

While the survey did make me laugh, I hope it serves as a wakeup call to those who are serving and representing our city, county and country in an elected position.  Even beyond that just in our everyday life, each one of us, elected or not, should strive to have people think more highly of us than head lice and colonoscopies.

I want my children to strive to be good people who leave a positive impact on the world.  No matter how badly they want something, they have to always take the high road and stick to their morals and values. 

I hope they will always ask themselves a question that perhaps many elected officials might need to step back and ask themselves, “What type of person have I become when people have a higher opinion of a root canal than they do of me?”