Election Day
Tomorrow is Election Day in the United States.
Tomorrow, for the very first time, Masha will cast her vote for President, for Governor, and for several other local races.
You may have noticed that I stay pretty far away from politics here. That’s not a result of any strategy of appeasement, or any effort to passive-aggressively imply support for one side or the other based on certain beliefs I’ve shared or not shared here. It’s not from any failed effort to show direct support or opposition to any particular single issue.
Honestly, the reason is that I’m conflicted.
I have friends and family who hold strong opinions on both sides of the fence. I sit on the fence and dangle my legs over both edges. And friends, this makes my butt hurt. (Yes. I just said that.)
It hurts to sit on the fence.
But it also hurts to jump down on either side.
It hurts because there’s so much that I disagree with on both sides. Because voting my conscience on one issue means voting against my conscience on another. Again and again.
We live in an incredibly complicated society. We are trying to find harmony between opposing forces. We are attempting to find justice in an unfair world. We disagree on what helps and what hurts. We disagree on who is capable of giving and who is worthy of receiving.
Opinions run the range of Ayn Rand to Karl Marx. With little bits of Jesus thrown in where He can help bolster our position.
But while our two-party system is very very imperfect, it’s still one of the best ones out there
Choose carefully and let your voice be heard in the cacophony — this is far more important than most people imagine. It sounds cliché, but it’s true.
Your vote counts.
Will you be voting tomorrow? Leave a comment… (but please don’t tell us for whom.)
Photo credit: Theresa Thompson (Creative Commons)
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About Christine
I am a writer, a project manager, and a corporate refugee with a heart for orphans around the world. My two daughters were adopted from Ukraine at ages 12 and 14. I post about writing, chasing dreams, and making a difference in the world, and sometimes I share fun snippets of fiction in-progress.
I agree Christine. I’m in the same place, not assigning myself to either party. It’s a hard place to be… on the fence.
I will be voting. I do the best I can with the knowledge I have (politics makes me my eyes gloss over and I have a hard time reading up on everything) and pray for the best.
You nailed it, Jamie. Do the best we can with the information we have…and pray!
I will not be voting tomorrow. Mostly because I already voted. 😉 I understand your fence-sitting pain. I did an online survey to figure out which candidate I relate to more. My answers put me clearly on one side of the fence but upon looking at the issues, I sided with the other candidate on the issues that were more important to me. Unfortunately, it seems to always come down to the lesser of two evils and how big of a difference does my one vote really make anyway?
It does make a difference, but yeah…it’s an interesting world! I am jealous of my hubby and his absentee ballot.
Katie – I believe every single vote does count and I’m glad you’ve already been to vote. I love early voting!
Christine – I am so excited for Masha! This is a landmark day for her to have her first opportunity to vote as an American citizen. I hope all of us will reflect on how fortunate we are to have a say in how our government is run.
I did not have a problem selecting a candidate 😀
I am excited for Mash, too! We’ve been working hard to impress upon her that voting is a great privilege. Hoping she’ll remember that as we stand in line!
Yeeeeeeeeeessssss…!!!
Voting early Tue a.m. Very Fortunate, Indeed…
(So very sorry for those on the East Coast dealing with Sandy)
My thoughts & prayers are with them…>
BTW…Nice Photo…Nice Reminder…(((*V*O*T*E*)))
Good reminder, Mark. Prayers are with everyone on the east coast!
Out there this morning. My 5 year old wanted to go with, but he had to go to pre-K. However, he was very vocal about who we want for prez in class. The teachers got quite a kick out him today.
He was very upset to find out I voted without him!
But it’s great to see that he’s absorbing our conversations on how important it is to get out there and vote, and how each one counts! Hope Masha had a good experience this afternoon!
That’s awesome!! Get ’em early!
As for us, we went as soon as she got home from school and the lines weren’t bad. We were in and out in 20 minutes, and she did great!