Suddenly Sharon

I am so excited! I mean the day I have been waiting for for so long is finally here. I just seriously can’t believe we are finally here. If I weighed thirty pounds lighter I would do cartwheels and dance in the street. Seriously I just am so thrilled!!!
I have done so much research and really tried to pay attention and just be informed so that on this day the decisions I make are the right ones. I have watched every debate and read all the papers and searched the internet for the answers I haven’t heard yet. Next Tuesday I get to take all that knowledge I have gathered and go to my town hall and I get to vote. How totally amazing is that.
For many, many years I labored under the delusion that my vote didn’t count and that all politicians lied their way into office so what did it matter anyway. I would complain about the state of the world, never realizing that with one simple mark of a pen I, me, little ole’ insignificant me... could bring about change. Call it youth and the curse of immaturity, I really didn’t think that voting was important. Time marched on and as my life continued to take interesting twists and turns I grew more cynical with each passing year.
What was my vote going to matter anyway, I never listened to issues and rarely watched the news only paying attention to the issues that existed in my own little bubble. Did Nicole have her lunch money? When was her Dance recital? Remember to ask for time off to take Sam to the Dr. For her check up. Do we have enough money this month to get one of those new DVD players everyone is talking about--you know the important stuff.
Then about 8 years ago something changed. I really can’t put my finger on it, or what specifically made me change my mind. Maybe it is just as simple as I finally grew up---my family did always say I was a late bloomer. I started to pay attention, I started to care about a lot more than the issues that existed within my own home. My Niece was diagnosed with Diabetes, and my eyes were opened to the state of the country and the world we live in.
I started to think about all the people who had come before me, the people who marched and fought for their rights. I started to respect their sacrifices and as my girls grew older and older I started to wonder about the future. While I had always been one to live solely in the moment, being a mother forced me to think ahead, and in thinking ahead I worried about the world my girls would one day inherit. Would their rights as woman be honored, would their jobs be secure, would they have the right to make choices for themselves?
How could I as a mother and a human being secure the rights and privileges I wanted my girls to enjoy and more importantly to respect? How could I set a good example for them to follow? Only one thing comes to mind. If I want to make changes or to keep the status quo, I had to become informed, I had to make a stand and I had to Vote!
So many people have died to give me this right and not to exercise it seemed to take all those sacrifices in vain and that was not the message I wanted my girls to get from me. I remember the first time I voted, it was in the Presidential election between Al Gore and George Bush. I never in my life felt what I felt on that day. I had arrived and I now had a voice and I was going to use it. I went behind that curtain and marked my ballot and put on that “I Voted” sticker and walked out of the town hall feeling like I was King of the world. I was an Adult, I mattered, I could make a difference and even if the vote didn’t go my way at least I had a hand in it. I was honoring the traditions and rights that I have been given. Such a gift is mind blowing .
If you are like I was and think that your opinion just doesn’t matter and that no matter what you do the lying politicians aren’t worth your time, you couldn’t be more wrong. We all matter and our opinions and views are important and your right to vote is beyond awesome.
On Tuesday no matter who you stand by or what you stand for ..Vote, for yourself and for the country, and for our kids. What better example could we set for the voice of the future.