VOTE!

My country,
'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing…
Samuel Francis Smith

On Monday, I went to lunch at 2 p.m.

Tempted as I was to follow my usual routine – go home, take Gracie for a walk, fix a bowl of soup or a sandwich, finish reading the paper – I headed instead for the HISD Support Services Building. Early voting had begun there that morning, and rumor had it the line of people had been long. But the polling place was only five minutes away, and I figured, what the heck, I’d give it a try. Twenty minutes later, my ballot cast, I was grabbing a sandwich at HEB.

Sounds rather mudane, doesn’t it? I took a few minutes out of my busy day to vote – big deal. Well, yes, it was a big deal – to me, it was a very big deal, indeed.

We can vote a straight ticket in Texas – Democrat or Republican – but I went through the ballot candidate by candidate and chose the ones I wanted to elect. All but three of my choices were Democrats, and for the first time in way too long, I felt good about every one I’d chosen. I also believed that my vote would be counted this year and would be a catalyst for change on the national, state and local levels.

I cannot recall another time in my life when I actually stood before a voting machine and smiled – really smiled – as I pressed the button to cast my vote.

Much as I hate to admit it, there have been years when I didn’t bother to vote. I didn’t “like” any of the candidates; casting my vote seemed futile; I didn’t want to stand in line. Like so many others, I took my right to vote for granted – something I could do…or not…depending on my mood.

Eventually - better late than never - I began to realize that voting was not only a right, but also a responsibility.

Sitting on the sidelines, muttering about all that’s wrong, changes nothing. Only by standing up and speaking up can we begin to make a difference – maybe not a big difference, maybe not at first, but one day – a day like today – we find that we’re no longer standing alone, and our voice has been joined by millions of others.

Sadly, many of us don’t stand up or speak up when times seem good. If we have a house and a job, health insurance, clothes and a car and food on the table, we don’t consider (or try not to consider) how those less fortunate get by. We huddle on our little patch of prosperity, minding our own business, keeping our heads down and our mouths shut, and think about buying a big screen TV.

Lately, though, the ground has shifted under all of us, tossing each and every one a lot closer to “less fortunate” than we ever thought we’d be. Our business (or lack of business) isn’t only our own anymore. The trickle-down effect is trickling down on every man, woman and child in the world, and not in a good way. Keeping our heads down doesn’t seem to be an option anymore, not to mention making the payments on that TV.

Twisting in the wind of an eight-year downward spiral, many of us have finally begun to look at where we are and where we’d like to be, and maybe, just maybe, a majority of us have realized we’re not going to get there unless we elect honest, intelligent men and women to lead the way.

In the next 10 days, we will elect a new president – we, the people - the people who vote. It’s not just our right. It’s our responsibility. Do I want you to vote for the candidates I chose? Well, yes - that would be nice. But, bottom line, I just want you to vote.