During my teleclass “Playing Your Part on the World Stage” we had a fun discussion about the first time we ever voted. I shared my story – the first time I voted I was 8 ¾ months pregnant and I the main thing I remember about the experience was how afraid I was that I wouldn’t fit into the voting booth. So much for patriotic fervor! Another woman wrote about how it was very foggy the night she went to cast her first vote. She drove round and round in the fog, trying to find the polling place, and while she drove she went round and round in her mind about who she was going to vote for. She couldn’t make up her mind who was the “right” candidate. Turns out she got so confused — both about finding the polling place and who to vote for – that she just went home instead. What I got out of the stories that were shared was that when we were young we were motivated to find the “right” person and the “right” way, and even the “right” place, because we were too young to know that no such “right” things actually existed. The truth is far more complex than our simplistic political notions. But even though I know this now, now that I am no longer young, I still vote, and I still try to find the “right” candidate. This reflects a central paradox that we all have to face: we must continue to search for absolute perfection even though we know there is no such thing.
If you’d care to share a story about this topic, please leave a comment here. At the end of each month I’ll gather up the Sharing History comments and pick one at random from a drawing, and send the winner of the drawing my e-book: your choice of a Making History Workbook.
Technorati Tags: history, first, votes, voting booth, stage, patriotic, right, confused
