Like the wave to the beach, the highly touted and mainly biased, "SUPER TUESDAY" week and primaries have now come and gone. Hillary Clinton and Barrack Obama are both claiming victory, for the delegates and states won. McCain won nine states, Mitt Romney six states, and Mike Huckabee won five states. Yet, their analysis of "Super Tuesday" was vastly different. Rather than going thru tortured details of "Super Tuesday" (like every media outlet in the world), the Oprah and California voting scandal(s), or anything that may be construed negative, ambiguous rhetoric, a witnessed story begs to be told, instead.
It is six o'clock in the morning, at a primary spot in a small elementary school (in a smaller suburb of Kansas City, Missouri), there are just four people working the site. After explaining that they were expecting a massive rush, people trying to vote before work, they were pleasantly surprised. There were only four people waiting to vote. The first three voters made it thru the process, without a hitch. The fourth person made it to get his ballot, when a silver haired woman spoke, "Republican, Democrat, or Libertarian?" There is a tone of sarcasm and disdain, in the woman's voice (who was obviously there for her $100, not to "volunteer"). The man asked to see the Libertarian ticket, rather than just picking one of the three, making her job just thirty seconds faster. After a brief exchange of words, the lady refused once again to let him check the ballot (to see who was on the Libertarian side). However, she did not bank on the man knowing his voting rights and things were resolvedthe was resolved, but only after he demanded to see the "Missouri Voting Process Book", the elderly woman thrusting a ballot into his hands, and sending him to the booth to vote.
During the uncomfortable and unnecessary display, several more people had filed into the education building. Waiting in line, a Caucasian, elderly lady was next to an Asian man. He volunteered his place in line, to her. [The gesture was in stark contrast, to the vulgar display of power, the elderly volunteer had shown to the man a minute before. Yet, that choice enabled the two strangers to start an unbelievable and telling exchange.] She declined, stating that she was not in any hurry, "at her age." Her name was Ruth. She was seventy-eight years old. His name was Carlos, and was fifty-seven years younger (thirty-one years old). Carlos asked her if she had always lived around the area and made small talk. Ruth's response was remarkable:
"It is very nice to meet you and be cordial, to one another. [she smiled, because of the semi-fight in front of them] I have lived in this area my whole life, for seventy-eight years. [Carlos said, "I bet things have really changed."] I remember everyone I voted for in the last fifty years, some winners and losers. However, times were different and people were different, back then. I was a registered republican, until 2000, but in my sixties it seemed to me like world and people changed, so much. I have been more concerned with how the city and people have become hardened, or like the world revolves around individuals. I registered as an Independent, for the elections between 2000 and 2006. I voted for George W. Bush both times. After over fifty years of being a voting republican, an independent voting for republicans, I am now a registered democrat and I will be voting for Barack Obama."
The man (Carlos), commented about being a registered democrat, himself. He also stated that he was going to vote for Barack Obama. Carlos and Ruth were then pushed thru to the registry process, while more people began to file in. However, they parted company with kind words and moved into the booths, to place their respective votes.
Every choice in life counts. In just a brief ten minutes, it looked like the people of the United States was in, a sixteen by sixteen, foot petry dish. Three people cast a vote for president, a man and an elderly woman had a heated discussion over looking at a piece of paper (because the lady was either lazy, or did not care enough to do her job), and two strangers (who were nearly three generations apart, from different ethnic backgrounds, and were also from very different economic backgrounds) having a conversation. Some people are fighting, others of all persuasions and backgrounds in positive dialogue (sharing their past, the present, future, and dreams), and still some just stand on life's sidelines doing nothing. Life in a nutshell.
This election season, when votes have been cast and the new President of the United States decided, the free world hangs in the balance. The world's biggest "Super Power" will have a new leader, brought on by individual's gathering together, believing in one human being. After the visit to the primary destination this morning and the end of "Super Tuesday," only one statement by any pundit, media outlet, or nominee had sustenance for the country.
From Obama's celebration speech, in Illinois:
"What started out as a whisper [on the steps of the courthouse, in Illinois], has now become a chorus of millions of people. However, this (election) is not about me, but it is about you (the individual voter)!"
Barack is a spectacular orator. However, speaking may not mean that he should be the "leader of the free world," has the vision and policies to lead, and this is not in any way an endorsement. However, one thing rings true, in his quote and thru the story above. Every single person in America and the world, must start thinking of the collective (rather than "individuality"), which breeds the right choice. When a person eliminates themselves out of the equation, it forces outward thinking, to the choices that effect the people around them. America will only become the great nation it was, when people start participating and demanding truth, thru individual choice for the betterment of society.
