Thursday, October 4, 2012

'my generation never votes. it interferes with talking about ourselves all the time.'

of course i laughed at this quote at first [delivered by jonathan on 30 rock], but when i started thinking about it, i realized that it is a bit true for me. all summer i have been thinking ok ahlin, time to brush up on your politics and study out the issues and candidates. but here we are, nearly a month away from the election and i still have done next to nothing to prepare myself for the vote.

why is this? part of it is that i am lazy. yes, i said it. it takes time to read about things that i may or may not understand, things that may or may not pertain to me. another part is i am scared. scared to make the 'wrong' decision, scared that i will go with the crowd [although it is quite split, i think], scared that my friends would not approve. as i type those reasons out, they all seem silly. but they are a little true.

i think the main part for me though is that i feel like i can't trust any source. there is no where that i know of that will give me the straight facts. i just want to know what these candidates believe, what they intend to do and what it means for me and the people i love. i am afraid that this source doesn't exist. even the most well intentioned person cannot deliver this to me.

someone wiser than myself told me to choose three things that i really, honestly care about and study out the candidates' stance on these issues. i like this approach. it takes pressure off me and i feel like i will be able to make a more educated decision, something that i will care about and stand for.

i don't want to be afraid of politics anymore. i have never liked the contention of it or the intenseness of it. they always just stress me out. people - candidates and supporters alike - thinking that their way is the only way; i have never done well with that kind of thinking.

but this year i make a promise to study these things out and make an educated decision. i owe it to the candidates, to my country and to myself.

1 comment:

Vicki said...

Bravo Ahlin!