A Voice

Today I was thankful for the opportunity to vote and the reminder that apathy accomplishes nothing.

A few years back I spent a month in South Africa with a group of students and two professors from Luther College.  It was a challenging trip.  I had never participated in a study abroad course before and the topic, Truth and Reconciliation in a Post-Apartheid South Africa, was very intense.  We had an ambitious itinerary, and experienced many parts of that beautiful country in ways that no tourist group would ever be allowed.

Sight seeing was not our priority.  We spent most of our time in conversation with South Africans.  We did not go on safari, and my pictures consist mainly of townships and Apartheid memorials.  Most of our days we listened as Black, White and Colored South Africans recounted their experiences during apartheid, throughout the Truth and Reconciliation Committee hearings and beyond.  My real memories are not in my photographs, they are in the journal I kept and mostly in the quotes of the many courageous and amazing people that we had the opportunity to meet.

The beauty and challenge of travel is that it provides us with an opportunity to remove ourselves from our comfort zone and gives us a chance to view our respective communities as an outsider.  This trip was no different.  There were many times when our conversations turned from South Africa to the United States.  We were often challenged by the South Africans we met to participate more fully in our democracy.  Americans are viewed widely as apathetic toward our government and the people we met were not shy in reminding us of how fortunate we are to have a democratic system that operates under relative peace.  This experience marked a turning point in my recognition of myself as a community member and not just as an individual.

It was with those memories that I voted today.  In recent months I have become increasingly frustrated with political campaigns and agendas.  I often feel that our system is not always looking out for the best interest of the community.  As a country it seems we are often impatient and short sighted when it comes to the real issues at hand.  We have divided ourselves on party lines and can't seem to work beyond them.  I have felt the apathy that I swore to leave behind in South Africa return, and I couldn't let that happen.  I didn't want to let down the people I met during the course of my travels.  I wanted to make sure my voice, as small as it may be, was heard today because too many people have fought hard and endured terrible things for their right to vote and for mine.