exercises in hope?

I waited in line two hours to vote, but I voted and it was my first election ever, given my newly minted US citizen status. I hope you voted too (if you’re eligible). *

While voting is definitely important, our rights and responsibilities as citizens and our role in shaping this country extends beyond what we do in a voting booth once every few years. We vote with our money, with what we buy and what we do not buy. We vote with our actions, whether they be daily mundane acts or larger life decisions. We vote on an individual basis, on the choices that we make and we vote in our participation and involvement in other groups, whether political or not.

We can have a half-hearted democracy where we vote for representatives every few years or we can work towards a more rooted democracy where we use our voice and our actions to influence and implement changes that affect our lives on a regular basis, through political or other means.

While this election may promise some change and hope with new leaders for this country, real change does not always come from above. We are responsible. Just as we consciously make history today with our votes, we also make history daily whether we are conscious of it or not.


* If you’re ineligible to vote, you can still be like a citizen and influence what kind of country this will be or will not be.