Human Right on Election Eve

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.