Vote!

There are a few things about adulthood that, as a child, excited me: driving, getting a job, living alone, traveling whenever and wherever you want to, and voting. Every time election season came around, my parents told my eager grade-schooler self who they were voting for, what issues were on the line, and how each decision at the polling booth affected my future. So, you can just imagine how with trembling hands I cast my first ballot after I turned 18.

To say that politics is something that interests me is an understatement. I could watch pundits debate about charter change, immigration, trade regulations, and gun laws all day. Just as I have favorite authors, actors, bands, and basketball players, I have favorite news personalities and political experts. I may have acquired the wisdom to no longer engage in heated discourses about hot-button government and civic topics--because it's a surefire way to alienate people--but watching intelligent, eloquent, and opinionated individuals hash it out on national television amuses me to no end. A friend told me that my idea of entertainment is abnormal, at best. Hahaha.

But voting is not politics as usual; or at least, it shouldn’t be. It is how we participate in our democracy. I understand how some people prefer not to get caught up in the rigmarole of wading through the trash that politicians dish out because all too often getting to the truth is an exercise in futility. It saddens me that a civic duty has become a circus that turned several responsible citizens off. I know friends who have voted for years but skipped the last two or three elections because it had gotten dirty, personal, and really, no good alternatives.

In an ideal world, every citizen would turn up at polling stations and make their voices heard through the ballot box instead of booing, being disrespectful, and screaming profanities at political rallies. Participating in peaceful assemblies, joining prayer vigils, and street marches are great ways to show where and how we stand; but shading those circles on election day is how we make it count (pun intended).

Vote.