Civic Duty

I voted today and feel quite relieved! Some colleagues at work warned me that it may take an hour or more to get through the line. It took me 25 minutes. The line moved quickly. The guy standing behind me was a Vietnam Veteran. I thanked him for serving our country and our conversations immediately went to the Iraq war. We talked about who we knew had served. Then we talked about his girlfriend and ballroom dancing. We covered lots of territory in those few minutes. Sweet, nice guy. Good conversation.

I made the mistake of letting people in my office know that I was going to head to the JoCo election office. They had all kinds of suggestions of who to vote for and what initiatives to affirm. I thought I walked into a snake pit! (If you do not know Indiana Jones and I have this one thing in common…we HATE snakes) I just had to smile and nod my head, then say I did not want to get into it. I am not bashing their beliefs but I think that certain individuals need to get outside themselves, see a bit of the world around them and not be so tunnel vision.

One thing that I am extremely grateful for when I grew up (I attribute this to my parents) their beliefs were not imposed upon me. I was able to come to decision by myself and reap the positive or negative consequences. How refreshing it would be if everyone did something outside their comfort zone (legally) often enough to broaden their scope. This is not to liberalize the world, but for individuals to gain a sincere appreciation for others different from themselves. Each of us become so wrapped up in our own self-centered lives and it promotes homogeneity in the wrong sense. This might be the objective of some people, but I think that belief is so misguided.

I am (feeling a bit patriotic today) grateful to be in a free country where we can elect our leaders without fear of recourse. Although my staff may have recourse on me if certain people win in the Presidential election!