Why Voting In This Election Is Crucial
First and foremost, let me say happy Lesbian day for all of you beautiful people out there that identify as Lesbians. That being said, I still really hope that someday we will not find it necessary to have days, weeks or months that draw attention to certain groups of people because people will finally be treated as equals and as normal, not separate and distinct.
This leads me into what I would like to discuss with you today. We do not yet live in a world where all are seen as created equal. It is still a daily occurrence to gaze around in a grocery store and find someone looking at my wife and I with disgust, or just witness others receiving glares as they go about their lives. We still live in a world where humans judge, condemn, harass, and even kill others for no other reason than a difference in skin color, gender, sexual orientation, or economic status. Not only have we failed to achieve equality, but as we see daily around the country, we haven’t even managed to protect our citizens from injury and/or death. This is not the land of the free, but it can be.
Not many of you know me personally, but I am a nurse in Nevada. I have always wanted to be a doctor. It was my dream as a child. Dreams shift as we gain wisdom and my path took me to becoming a nurse practitioner. I was about 6 months from graduation when the COVID pandemic hit. My wife and I contracted the virus in mid April. We recovered, but then I became a long-hauler. Long story short, my life is drastically different and my path has yet again shifted because of COVID. Many of us long-haulers are also finding out that we do not have or do not keep antibodies for COVID. Therefore, I and many like me, could get the virus a second time, possibly third, and so on.
I was raised to be a republican. For years when I was young, I just blindly went along with whatever my parents told me to do in the voting arena. When I started having children of my own, I started to question the ideals that I had been taught, instead of blindly following what I was instructed to do. If I was going to be in charge of other human beings lives, I better be clear on what I stand for and why. I remained a republican even after I embraced being a lesbian in my 30’s. Up until this point, I still had my head in the sand about what was actually happening around the world. Yes, see we are all guilty of it. Ignorance is bliss is a statement I have been using since that time. You cannot unsee or unhear the facts that you find when you really dial in. I am sad that it took me so many years to ask Why, but I became a democrat in the process.
This is not where I start hating on republicans. I do not feel any group of people should be judged by the few that give them a bad name. I believe this is the case with every group of people on earth. We all think we are right. We all have outliers of people that take things way too far and do not speak for the rest of us, though it seems like they do. So instead, I want to tell you why I cannot, will not, and refuse to vote for Trump.
I believe that you should judge people on their actions. They have a pattern that they cannot help but fall into that shows who they are and what they stand for. If you sit back, block out the noise and just watch, it is not hard to see what kind of person someone is and what their motivations are. I have been sitting back and watching, and what I have seen is a president that constantly talks about himself and how much other people like him. He gives himself constant pats on the back and looks genuinely offended when others do not do the same. There is a recorded history of people disagreeing with him that promptly have been removed from their offices. There is a puzzling lack of qualifications for those trump chooses to put in positions of authority. He has yet to denounce violence against people of color or the LGBTQ+ community. He not so subtly cheers on white supremacy. He endangered all of his own supporters by not wearing a mask and encouraging them to do the same. Even after he had COVID, he still has not shown to have changed any of his irresponsible behavior, and took a joyride etc. I could spend days just talking about the things I have watched happen over the last 6 months.
Just for the sake of logic, lets’s say I was still a republican. I am a white female and am already a devoted Christian, so we will leave those in place. We will say for arguments sake I was still with a man in a typical nuclear family setting. If I sat back and saw all of the things that are going around me, I would still say “ I cannot vote for this man. He is not a good person.”
I just challenge you to sit back and think about things logically. Do not think about party. Party doesn’t matter. I want you to think as a human being. Are you ok living in a world where some human beings are more important than others? What if the tides were to change and you were the minority? It could happen. How would you want to be treated? What are we teaching our children? Is this what God wanted us to do to each other? Really? He preaches about love and taking care of others before yourself. How does this administration and this way of thinking align with that? These are real questions, that when pondered upon may reveal that there is still some growth to be done. I am urging everyone to vote. Your vote does matter. Vote as if your life depends on it. Vote as if others lives depend on it. We will not survive another 4 years under this leadership. I think we can all agree on that. Country over party.
Don’t forget to go see our facebook page and let us know where you will be polling. We are going to be out in the Proud To Love van on election day for those of you braving the in-person polls. We will be showing up socially distanced, responsibly handing out snacks and drinks to help you ease the time in line. We can’t wait to see you all out there. Vote vote vote. https://www.facebook.com/proudtolove1
