I Voted Today and It Was Easy
From an immigrant, mother, who makes difficult parenting decisions every day.
As parents, we make difficult decisions every day. From which brand of diapers to use to protect that soft, sensitive baby’s skin, to choosing the right preschool, to buy organic vs non-organic… it is almost exhausting. And we are doing it every single day, all the time. When we choose to enforce some rules versus letting them have fun, when we say yes or no to their multiple requests and preferences, anything and everything we decide to say or do, has a tremendous impact in the character of that little person who relies mostly on us parents to shape them up to be good, decent people.
We make difficult parenting decisions every day. And we do so, improvising most of the time because nobody teaches us to be parents. At best, we have our own
parents as examples that we can decide to follow entirely or partially, depending on our own experiences as their children. And we have no choice. Children need us to pretty much know what we’re doing or at least pretend we know while we try our best to not mess them up. We really have no choice. No one will do it for us.
Today, as I drove to my closest early voting location, I was thinking about the important set of decisions I was about to make, when finally confronted with the ballot. I thought about all the people I know that don’t seem to care much about voting. And all the people that will vote based on premises that they have not bothered look up more in depth. And then I thought about my children and how important this moment in history is. And as I walked into the voting site and they scanned my ID and proceeded to hand me the ballot, I felt overwhelmed by feelings of pride and a sense of duty to this country and my own children.
Today I exercised my right and duty to vote. The right I acquired after undergoing a naturalization process, as an immigrant from Colombia, married to a wonderful son of this land. Today, I honored those who believed in democracy and the right of the people to decide who will lead them best. Today I honored this country that now I call home and which has received me with open arms. Today I honored the future of my children, who rely on me to help shape their homeland as much as they rely on me to feed them.
I came to the conclusion that, as a parent who makes difficult decisions every day, the decision to vote and whom to vote for was not to be taken lightly and had to be at the top of my priorities. And by no means, this election season has been a straight forward, easy one. It has been so convoluted, contradictory and disappointing that the decisions to be made are as difficult as they can be. But when I look at my children and the community in which they develop, surrounded by opportunities and hope, where there is respect for human life above all, respect for our differences, love and respect for the environment, where integrity and honor prevails, it is clear to me who represents the character that I want imprinted in this country’s and its people’s future.
Today I voted because I had a choice. And one with which I didn’t need to improvise. It was far easier than most parenting decisions I make every day. And I’m proud I did it.
