(not actually me)
The beauty of this, for me, is that our actual votes can make a difference, regardless of your opinion of the Florida ballots in 2000. (Would there even have been a discrepancy if individual citizen votes were not counted?) As Americans we can complain all we want about corruption in politics and how there seems to be little point to it, and there is some case for both of these.
However, the fact remains, that we are a people who believe in the power of one. Who believe in our power of choice, collectively and individually. We love stories about individuals who stood against the masses and made a lasting and impacting statement. Just look at who our national holidays are named after. Our nation was birthed from people who boldly thought that their voice actually should be counted and that their choice should be heard. (Yes, they were white, slave owning men, but all things have to start somewhere. It was the very freedoms that these men wrote about that empowered and inspired women and minorities to stand up and demand that their choice should be worth something)
I look at the political situation in countries we visit with Mission Discovery, and the presence of true corruption is indeed oppressing. (Chad, Kenya, Mexico)Why vote when the next person in line for the presidency (or so deceivingly named dictatorship) is just another corrupt despot who will enact his will upon the populous? And when this has taken place your entire life, do you even have hope that positive change could ever take place?
We, Americans take for granted just how much we believe in the power of our choices. And that is why, regardless of whether my candidate wins, i feel a responsibility to wait in lines on rainy days, just to push a few buttons on a machine that looks like an early 1980's cash register. Because i think me pushing those rubbery buttons will actually change the world around me. Idealistic? Maybe. Naive? Never. It would be naive to think that free-will choice, our greatest God-given gift, means nothing in this world.
And here in lies the catch: my choice does not end as soon as i walk out of my local polling destination. If i simply vote, cross my fingers, and hope for the best, (which all too often i do) then i am yet again taking the power of my choice for granted. Each day i have a choice to make a difference in this world on a personal level.
(not actually Abraham Lincoln telling Gene Hackman, "It's about time Jimmy played ball!")
I think something should be done about the local homeless population? Great. If launching an educational job-placement program sounds way too involved and drastic, then i should simply make a sandwich and go sit down with one of our street-side brothers/sisters and listen to their story. I can't stand the border situation? Then i should take a few days to cross it and make the colonia a place to call home, and not just a dusty waiting room with a chance to swim to a better life. If the world around us can be affected by those making choices of negative influence, why can we not affect it by making positive ones?
Like i said, i am more guilty than anyone of sitting on my laurels while expecting someone else to do what needs to be done. However, I am slowly awakening to the responsibility that comes with my ability to chose. In other words, why should i wait for a government to do something when the choice is mine everyday?
Peace.
This is just a nightmare
Soon I'm gonna wake up
Someone's gonna bring me round
Running from the bombers
Hiding in the forest
Running through the fields
Laying flat on the ground
Just like everybody
Steppin over heads
Running from the underground
This is your warning.
4 minute warning.
I don't wanna hear it
I don't wanna know
I just wanna run and hide
This is just a nightmare
Soon I'm gonna wake up
Someone's gonna bring me round
This is our warning.
4 minute warning.
- Radiohead, 4 Minute Warning
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