There I was, morning of Nov. 5 at 6:45 a.m., shuffling to put on my jacket. I headed out before the sun rose, when the frost still covered the ground, and drove to my Township Hall. I was surprised to find a line of my neighbors already formed in wait, just to go in and vote.
I joined them, caught up with old friends and teachers, voted and said my goodbyes. I am sure we were there to vote for different candidates, yet there was this bond of patriotism between us; not the combative fighting I’m used to online. This feeling was the most patriotic I have yet to experience in the 20 years I have lived thus far.
For the past decades I have seen politics divide nearly everyone close to me friends, family and coworkers. Who could blame them, each side claims to solve all the country’s problems and that the other is set to make them worse.
Yet, as the saying goes, the path to Hell is paved with good intentions. Due to this deep societal schism, I have felt that the people of the United States, at least the ones I have met, are a lit fuse set to blow up at the other. The country being the casualty, the country both sides wish to save.
In truth, I don’t believe a civil war is on the horizon, but it does feel like one when politics is brought up. Yelling, fighting and the breaking of relationships. It is a horrible thing to see, and yet so common online.
With the recent election, the online political landscape was a battlefield of insults, fallacies and hate. Yet, when I stood in line to exercise my right to vote, it was peaceful, calm and friendly. I stood beside neighbor after neighbor, surely each casting a ballot different than the other. I was met with smiles, ‘good mornings’ and reminiscing memories from those I hadn’t seen in a while.
This little event made me feel so proud to be an American, to stand beside my countrymen, enacting a right gained from the spilt blood of warriors nearly a quarter millennium ago.
To see that we each act in what we believe, in a hopeful and peaceful way, is something that made me so proud of this country. Prouder than any firework display or parade ever has.
