Earlier this week, a friend and I met for lunch in Clifton. As I waited on the corner by Starbucks and Chicago Gyro, a young woman with a clipboard approached me and asked two questions:
First she asked, “Are you voting for Barack Obama?,” to which I replied, “I’m not sure yet.”
Then she asked, "Are you registered to vote?"
I am glad to see young people trying to get other young people (yes, I am including myself here) involved in the political process, but I walked away with (sort of) a bad taste in my mouth.
What if I would have said, “No, I’m voting or McCain”? Would she have still wondered if I was registered to vote?
For the record, my response about "not being sure" was honest.
I am dedicated to going against the grain here, ...by waiting to hear the candidates talk about issues before jumping on the bandwagon. Old fashioned, I know.
Someone from Cincinnati recently asked me: “What if I am a student at UC, …and I come to you and say, ‘hey I want to do some service learning in Peru, …I want to build rope bridges,’ …what would you say?”
2 comments:
Yes! I was thinking the same about the order and manner of questions she asked. First and foremost: Are you registered to vote? Secondary, if at all: Who, may I ask are thinking about voting for?
I would rather we had 85%+ voter registration and participation before my candidate was even mentioned. Are our rights being subverted in the election process? I want you and you to have the same right and chance vote as me and you. Politicizing the right to vote is wildly...f'd up.
We may disagree on issues, but damn if I will prevent someone from voting because I disagree with their ideas.
In hindsight, we should have corrected her.
There are moments of agency, where we can speak out against "wrong stuff." Here's an example:
I went to a Bengals game with two mentors. Behind us sat a 30-ish year old perv, ... hitting on a 15 year old (or so) young girl. One of my mentors and I sat and listened, talking to each other (between giggling laughter) how wrong it was.
The more senior in our group eventually called him out verbally (in a way that could have caused confrontation), ... and it stopped.
He modeled what correcting wrong looks like.
Thanks, Evan.
Lesson Learned.
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