On Election Eve
#vote #humanrights
In all of my life as a voter, I have never felt more frightened
of the political possibilities that lie ahead. In general, I am not a fearful
person. I tend to believe that Good will always rise up to conquer darkness. But,
when the darkness appears to be some of your friends and family, I have to
wonder from what magnifying glass my peers and I are looking.
When friends choose fiscal policy over human rights it simply
makes me wonder what kind of world in which we live. When people choose
government taking choice away from women, this sickens me. When GLBT rights and
the rights of all different colors and sizes of Americans are being measured by
different rulers, I’m simply outraged.
So, I should not be too surprised when I find myself alienating
those I love because they choose to voice their opinions in a way that could never
support my lifestyle as a gay man. When the Republican presidential candidate
and the Republican ticket wants to repeal my rights as a GLBT person in the
first 100 days of presidency, rights that all GLBT people have fought hard to
get, this would be like taking away the right to vote for African Americans and
women. I get sad inside and want to weep for the masses of people who say they
love their gay best friends and relatives, their Latin friends, their wives and
children, but have no idea that their vote says so much more than they
understand.
I read some Facebook posts last night from my high school
acquaintances. All of them had decided to vote for Trump. I was compelled to
write a compelling post to share my point of view, even though they may see me
as an outsider who doesn’t matter in the big picture. As I suspected, no one’s
minds were changed by my one shard of light entering into the misfortune of
misguided minds shaped and molded by lies heaped upon other lies.
I whisper to myself, how can you vote for a man who says he’ll
make America great again, when he has not paid a cent of a billion dollars
worth of taxes he owes that would help each of them and the national debt?
“Who are we to believe?” most are asking. The news eschews
truth, the politicians spin truth, and we go to the website only find a myriad
of different points of view about truth that no sane person can sort through
without feeling deluged by doubt. So, I’m back to my own feelings and my own
heart.
I remember other elections when I felt a similar feeling of
apathy, perhaps not as intense, but had my doubts about the opinions of friends
and family. I know that the day after the George Bush Jr. election, when
everything seemed to move back toward normalcy, I began to let go of my fury
and forgave those who stood in the shadows of my own truth. I spent more time
harnessing myself and waiting for the inevitable ball of fire to drop.
I have never enjoyed debating or fighting. I chose to be a
writer so that I could take pen to paper, or in this case, fingers to keyboard,
because I know that my opinion is just one. To voice my opinion in a succinct
and proper way is my right in this country. I am glad I still have that
intrinsic right.
