le fabuleux destin de jane man

Life is good when you vote!

It’s Election Day!

As soon as I returned to my neighbourhood after work today, I voted! Voting leads to good things. I returned home to find an envelope on my desk: Jon and my Sunday Osheaga tickets arrived! And my house smelled of delicious, beautiful oven-roasted ribs. Yum.

On a more serious note, below are some of my thoughts about being a responsible citizen and exercising the right to vote:

There is simply no excuse not to vote.

At first, I thought, “How annoying that I didn’t receive a voter’s card. (The last time I voted in a federal election, I was still in London, ON for university.) I’ll have to register when I get to the voting station. It’s going to take even longer, on top of the long line-up!” But honestly, what better things do I have to do than to vote? What is more important than exercising my civil duty and right as a citizen to participate in the democratic society I live in?

All day at work, people were asking whether or not I will vote. Personally, I still dislike it when people I’m not very close with blatantly ask me that question. It makes me a little uncomfortable. Then again, why should I be? Shouldn’t the answer be simple? “Yes, of course I will vote!” Until this evening, I was quite uncertain about who I would vote for; but the more I thought about the election and my past experience with politics (taking political science in first year and my post-secondary involvement with a certain party), I realize that I should have zero doubt.

My mother just told me a touching story that makes me proud.

Let me start with this: she didn’t vote today. Neither did anyone in my family. I was quite disappointed and embarrassed when I learned of this when I came home; but with those sentiments comes a story I have no shame in sharing with the world. My mother asked who I voted for, and I told her who and why. After a long conversation, she told me that she’s proud of me that I am passionate about politics, and that she is very sad she didn’t go to the voting station with my sister.

This afternoon, my sister asked my mom to go with her to vote. This would have been my sister’s first time voting. My mother was tired and didn’t want to leave the house. She was also conflicted and didn’t know who to vote for. Politics is confusing, and although she voted in the municipal election (we are all very aware of what goes on locally), she didn’t think she had enough information to vote. So she didn’t want to vote. Our conversation had her realizing that she should have supported and encouraged my little sister to vote, not to hold her back.

My mother felt that she did a bad thing. She made up an excuse to avoid voting wrong. She seemed ashamed of herself that she wasn’t setting a better example. This nearly brought me to tears. All I could say was “There is always next time.” As long as they begin to pay attention and have the understanding that this affects them too. As long as they vote in the next election and continue to do so.

Voting makes me happy.

One reason I love voting is because my polling station is at my old elementary school. Every time I vote, I get to revisit my childhood and reminiscent on the days when I was innocent. I always make a note to look at my graduation class’ photo when I visit. Today though, I bumped into a former classmate (from elementary school, high school and university), her father and the parents of a mutual friend. It was such a good feeling to see how we have grown. All three of us turned out well and are doing well professionally and personally. That makes me smile.

Polls are officially closed now. Here we go!