Vote!

It seems like campaigning has been going on forever, but it has all come down to today…election day.
Millions have already cast their votes in early voting polling places, or mailed in their votes, or cast absentee ballots. But millions more will have the chance today to walk into that voting booth and cast their votes, to make their voices heard.

Over the last year, and more so over the last weeks, there has been endless hype and speculation about who was going to be elected, who was ahead in the polls, who would come out on top. There has been a whole lot of mud slung by both parties in each other’s direction. There have been gross exaggerations claimed on both sides, sometimes wild erroneous claims of a candidate’s grand successes, or an opponents apparent failures. There have even been outright lies told and repeated again and again and again. There are always questionable acts perpetrated by candidates supporters in the notion that all is fair in love and war and politics, and that winning at all costs is the name of the game. No wonder people think of politics as a “dirty business”. Why then with all the distortions of the truth and dirty tricks played on all sides, should we stand in long lines to fill out a ballot in places where we think we already know what the outcome will be and we think our vote might not make any difference anyway?

That is a fair question. After all, there is laundry to be folded, kids who need our attention while doing homework that’s due tomorrow, dogs that need to be walked, lunches that need to be made, meetings we need to be prepared for, papers that are due, studying for big tests that are coming up, dishes piled in the sink, phone calls long overdue to be returned, prescriptions that need to be picked up from the pharmacy, and cars that need gas before we drive another block, much less drive to a polling place where we will no doubt need to stand in a long line before we get our turn to vote. So if we haven’t already cast our ballots, why fight the circumstances of our daily lives to wait our turn to cast our vote?

Here’s the simpliest answer of all. This quote was originally written for Veteran’s Day which is just a week away. But if you are wondering if it is worth your time and effort and energy to have the opportunity to make your voice heard, than this quote is possibly the most compelling reason we can think of:
“A veteran is someone who, at one point in their life wrote a blank check made payable to “The United States of America,” for an amount up to and including their life.” 

Someone, many millions of someones actually, were willing to lay down their lives if necessary so that their fellow Americans, (that’s us) could have the freedom and equality to cast a vote that makes their voice heard. As the saying goes, “Freedom is NOT free”! It has cost untold numbers their very lives so that today, November 5, 2024, we can exercise our freedom and our right to vote. When put into perspective it makes being slightly inconvenienced by having to stand in a line, seem a very small price to pay on our parts for the privilege of exercising the freedom someone else died to be sure we had.

If you vote you will no doubt feel better about your country and yourself. It’s really a small price to pay and a big reward to know you did your part and you were part of this country’s history, no matter what the outcome is. So dear chums…

Very fondly,
Your Two Chums