Election Day 2016: The End At Last
November 8th, 2016. So the day is finally here, the day millions of Americans have been anxiously waiting for. By tomorrow morning our long national embarrassment will hopefully be finished and we will have picked our next president.
This election has seen division and tension soar to new, almost unimaginable extremes and many Americans emotions are at an all time high as election day 2016 unfolds. However, I must admit I do not feel this way. Like many Americans my age, I feel as if I have been largely forgotten, pushed aside, told to give my vote and wait patiently for my issues turn. Still, I am utterly and completely terrified for the alternative which leaves me here, getting ready to reluctantly do what I had resigned myself to doing back in June and cast my vote for Hilary Clinton.
As I stand in line waiting to fill out my ballot, I think back to standing in this very spot four years ago, waiting to cast my vote for a second Obama term. I remember feeling excited and anxious. It was the first election I could vote in and I was captivated by the president's charisma as well as his positions. I didn't care if I had to wait three and a half hours, I was committed to making my voice heard.
I'm also painfully brought back to waiting here last April to vote in the democratic primary. Like many other young Americans, I was inspired and filled with hope as I cast my ballot for Senator Bernie Sanders, the first candidate I full heatedly believed in and also admired. I recall feeling like anything was possible, that real change was actually at hand.
On these occasions, participating in the democratic process had been an honor and a privilege that I was eager to take part in. But sadly I am unable to feel the same exhilaration as I now wait to submit my choices. I am not moved by a shared vision for the future nor a deep connection to my candidate's causes. No, today I vote only out of obligation and fear of the alternatives. There is no real support, no true belief, just reluctant acceptance of the realities of the day.
Looking around at the people waiting with me, it is plain to see that I am not the only one who is unenthusiastic about putting forth my choices. Almost all the faces around me are forlorn and distressed. There are no smiles, no excited murmur, no anxious anticipation. Everyone looks somewhat lost, they appear to be exhausted, worn out and beaten down by the hostile campaign season. As young people, we are all aware that this is the system and nation we must now begin to inherit and make our own and simply, we have no idea how to right the many wrongs of those who came before us. Hope seems all but nonexistent and only a minute sense of relief can be felt that the great national embarrassment that was this years race is at last over.
As I submit my ballot, I turn my thoughts to tomorrow. Tomorrow, after the votes have been tallied and the confetti has settled, we will have to take stock of the grim realities we have learned in the past year. We have been forced to face some long denied truths about our society and they have not been pretty. We must confront the dilemma of just where do we go from here head on and immediately to avoid the same mistakes that will only continue the disastrous path we now find ourselves upon.
Still, somehow, I am convinced there is still hope. This election has displayed the worst in us. It has showed us the results of years of polarization and misinformation of the perceived righteousness of one way of thinking and the subsequent demonizing of any opposition. We must take the lesson that fear and hate only create a vicious cycle and do all within our power to prevent repeating the same mistakes. We must accept that unity and compromise will always yield the best results for our nation and our world and that, when we lower the political discourse to such extremes, the damage is long term. We must find a way to come together and move forward, seeing each others as equals striving for the same goal and not enemies at the gates. Viewing one another not as left or right, but rather, as Americans united in the pursuit for a better future for generations to come.
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