It was Wednesday, November 7th. The sun hadn’t even started to peek through the sky as I woke up at 6:30, and the first thought on my mind was, “I wonder who our President is?”
This year was the first I was legally allowed to vote, and I almost didn’t. I wasn’t registered, the address on my license isn’t current, and I almost let my laziness take over and skipped the polling booth. Thankfully, I didn’t.
It’s nice to know the changes that have already occurred and have yet to happen were in part, even if it was just one very tiny part, because of my effort.
I don’t really remember previous elections very well; I wasn’t allowed to vote yet, so it didn’t seem important enough to spend time looking into for me. All I know about previous presidents is what I’ve heard from other people — for example, I know George Bush royally screwed up, but I’m not exactly sure why, even today.
It’s times like these when I like to take a step back and observe what I’m doing in my life today. After all, it’s the only one that I have complete control over.
Every day I’m learning more and more about who I actually am, and it’s quite an experience for me. I’m learning what my actual opinions are on things, what my morals are, and I’m exploring the realms of my intelligence, and hopefully making progress all the while.
To answer the question that wouldn’t stop nagging my sleepy mind, I looked at Facebook, the fastest way (for me) to get information on important current events. In less than 30 seconds, I learned that Obama won, the marriage amendment lost, the voter ID amendment lost, and Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana for recreational use.
I was ecstatic about the marriage amendment and about Obama’s victory. There were many outraged people about both. It’s going to take a while for many people to accept it, and some never will — that’s just the way the world works.
I saw a promotional photo about Obama the other day. On it was a picture of George Bush with a caption that read, “It took this guy eight years to mess up our country,” and then a picture of Obama that read, “I’m giving this guy eight years to clean it up.” Of course he isn’t perfect, but he’s done a lot for our country, and he’s going to do a lot more before he leaves the White House. I see hope in our future, which is all I can ask for.
