Well another presidential election has come and gone. At long last the endless months of media speculation and pundits waging war on the television and in the papers are over. The outcome has been decided.

No matter whether or not your preferred candidate emerged victorious here are some things to keep in perspective.

As someone who disagrees with nearly everyone on nearly everything, I know how easy it can be to become embroiled in heated political discussions. Still, at the end of the day it’s important to remember that these arguments are not worth ruining a friendship over. Sometimes it is better to agree to disagree and carry on with your lives than to let partisan politics interrupt a relationship.

There is a reason that polls routinely find that nationally government and politicians are mistrusted by a large majority of the population.

Every few years the politicians wake us up from our normal daily lives and promise us they know how to take us all to “Candy Mountain” and that it is a “land of sweets and joy and joyness.”

But inevitably when they get elected rather than “a land of sweets and joy and joyness” we find the average people have been taken to the exact same place and duped again for the benefit of some interest or another.

While this may be a rather pessimistic simplification of the political process, there are still encouraging things to be found. Despite the on-going machinations of the political class, the average people still manage to go on. We are able to go on because of the brotherhood that binds Americans together in times of trouble.

The perfect example of this is the relief effort now underway in the wake of hurricane Sandy. Barely even a few days went by until donations came flooding in from many different avenues.

While sometimes it may seem that the nation is divided and full of partisanship, the disaster relief efforts demonstrate that Americans are more than capable of coming together as the politicians squabble and bicker to use the catastrophe to further their own ends.

In the days ahead, rather than letting the fallout of this election drive us apart and fill us with animosity and anger, let us remember that politicians will come and go, but the indomitable American spirit shall remain.

President Grover Cleveland once said, “The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always be relied upon to relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune.”

If we ensure that these words said over a hundred years ago remain true today, there is no need to fear the end of the world just because of who the president is.