Voting or Ridiculi

This article is an argument for you and any other registered American citizen to exercise their right to vote by showing up and filling in their ballot (or sending in an absentee form) on next week’s election day. Even if you cannot, push those who can: parents and family, peers and friends. As both Democratic and Republicans Presidential candidates agree, this election will determine the path of governance of our society for many years by those who will be elected. You and I are truly affected by what the results will be that day.

To not vote is really voting. This means eligible voters who do not vote make a statement for a cause or ideology that threatens our democracy and what we want in life and the way we get to live or reach for it. Do not let this happen.

For many of you this publication discusses trends, school information, clubs, activities and sports that make up a big part of your high school life and rightfully so. I love the stories of this paper and learn and remember so much of what going to high school is really about these days besides homework and tests. Good years for sure!

However, as these four years go by quickly the future ahead looms. You cannot ignore the economic worries your parents and loved ones hold for your future. They want you to achieve the American Dream at a level higher than theirs. It is a bright future if those who can vote …DO! It is an equally important to be aware of what this election is all about and to take a stand and make a statement by voting for a candidate that holds the same dreams for you as your parents.

In these economic times most of us are thinking within our families where the money will come from and where it will go. For many students at SHCP and the entire adult faculty/ community this is a constant reminder coupled with our faith to help those even less fortunate than us. In essence a lot of economic stress but significantly reduced by making the right choices on November 6 2012.

This modest article by a government teacher in SF does not endorse any candidate, but when I look at our community and great city I think of two things about (1) who we vote for and (2)the importance of getting out to vote. To not do so brings about a world of riduculi: a world of lost opportunity, inequality and absence of fairness.

First, I think FDR in his Second Inaugural Speech clearly stated what our elected government needs to do: “The test of our progress is not whether we add more to the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough for those who have too little.”

Second, l have lived by for a long time by the words below on what it means to vote and how I, a struggling middle class school teacher, is equal to the wealthiest billionaire at a polling site. These words, over a hundred fifty years old, written in a time when women and many others could not vote, very much epitomize the importance of my vote and to preserve the dreams I hold for myself and my family to live in the greatest democracy nation on earth. Please read them carefully and insert yourself as the speaker regardless of your gender and background. And please, get out the vote!!!

The Poor Voter on Election Day by John Greenleaf Whittier (1852)

The proudest now is but my peer,

The highest not more high;

To-day, of all the weary year,

A king of men am I.

To-day alike are great and small,

The nameless and the known

My palace is the people’s hall,

The ballot-box my throne!

Who serves to-day upon the list

Beside the served shall stand;

Alike the brown and wrinkled fist,