Please Vote Today

Today is the day most people in America will vote for their choice of candidates to represent them as the President of the United States. I saw an editorial the other day that asked if the act of voting was a gift or an obligation. I think that the ability of each citizen to vote is a combination of gift, obligation, right, and responsibility - and, if one is a citizen (in good standing), that voting should be a cause of pride. I currently reside in Colorado, which is considered a "swing" state; while of voting age, I have lived in Colorado, Virginia and Florida. All of these states are considered "swing" states, so I am used to being inundated with political advertisements and with the visits of candidates in an election year. My maternal family roots go back to the 1620s in Virginia and Maryland, and my paternal roots go back to the Mayflower and the 1640s in the Carolinas and Virginia. My family has seen a lot of history regarding the beginning of the British colonies, on through the American Revolution, the Civil War and the World Wars. A lot of family blood has been spilled in the past, and family members are still putting their lives on the line to ensure the freedom of the United States of America.

   I don't really care whom you choose to vote for. Just go out and express your feelings by casting your vote. Being able to vote for one's representatives in the government - at the city, county, state, and federal levels - is something that people have given their lives for throughout history. Maybe I'm just plain strange - but I get a little zing when I place my vote... I think of my umpteenth great-grandfather, who signed on as a bond servant in London, and who worked on a tobacco plantation in Maryland for seven years to become a free man in the colonies; I think of the hardships of the Massachusetts colonies; I think of my Quaker ancestors, including Hatevil Hall; and my Cleveland ancestors who arrived in England (and thence on to the USA) with William the Bastard (oops... William the Conqueror), and then emigrated to New England.

   I guess I feel the weight of history lift from my shoulders when I vote... that I am able to, can, and do express my feelings about how this country is run with my own unique vote.