PSA: Vote, but not for your own sake

Nov 4, 2008 | Discuss | Tags: america, freedom, personal, politics, rights, vote  

This is a public service announcement. Sorry to utilize the bullys pulpit and I promise not to do it too often. Please feel free to comment, forward or disparage me for the article below. I welcome your feedback and thoughts. But most of all, please believe me when I say that the following is sincere and well-meant.

Thank you.
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Pss, hey you. Yeah you over there with the one eye on the tube and the other on the computer. I need you to stop for a second and do me a favor.

Go vote.

I mean, obviously not all of you, but those of you who are over 18, not convicted felons and are US citizens. Don’t do it for yourself, schmuck. Do it for those around you, the people you love.

Why, you ask? What is my vote going to do for them? Well, where to start…this election has the most significant ramifications of any in our generation. Our country is in dire straits and the only way out is up.

We have a financial crisis so deep that even the car companies cant give away cars with 0% interest. Investments have fallen by 60% in less than 8 weeks. Do you want to work until you’re 75? Do you want your parents working that long? Does wearing a blue vest and pushing grocery carts hold a certain appeal to you? Do you have over a million dollars in your 401k? Have you checked lately? You should, but take a kleenex along.

We are fighting two wars – one necessary to win, another necessary to retain our pride in the face of a mistake. But soon enough we will be facing yet another war in Pakistan, the homebase of the one man that has terrified us long past the sounds of jets screaming into concrete and steel. When we enter Pakistan, with or without permission, we’re going in for a just cause and we will need to stand strong and sacrifice and most of all declare victory for a just cause, this time.

We are struggling with the educations of our children. Children who are so much more technically advanced than we were at their ages. Children who use Facebook and Myspace in elementary school – who program games and iPhone apps as preteens and hack together companies known globally by the time they finish puberty. They’ve seen more skin than many of us did until we were in college or married – their innocence is packed away on a disc drive somewhere.

These kids need a proper education – they need to read and write and add and subtract. They need to love and hurt and discover that the people around them are just like them. They must discover that they are not alone – that there are others like them, even if they are 3 color shades away or missing a body part they themselves may possess. We need to teach them respect and manners and how to use common sense when it comes to dollars and cents. We need to teach them how to use what they’ve learned online, outside.