The year was 2004 and I was five days into being 18-years-old on Election Day. George W. Bush was running against John Kerry and I was clueless, uninformed and frankly did not care. My dad told me who to vote for, and without question, I did. I was not into politics, the history of our nation and I figured my {uneducated} vote truly did not matter.
In the last sixteen years, I want to say “I’ve seen the world” compared to the small rural town where I grew up. After high school, I moved away and attended a large public university, where I had my first taste of diversity. Getting to sit in lectures and hear people debate issues that I had never encountered and hear views I never thought about, helped me grow into a more open-minded adult and see a bigger world than what I was accustomed to.
I’ve lived in three states and within those states, I have lived in big cities and small cities. I have met people with similar thoughts as me, as well as people with vastly different views. Through the years, I have met people of different races, with different religious backgrounds, raised in different cultures, different education levels and different sexual orientations.
There is one thing we have in common: we want to be accepted and equal to one another.
I was raised to be a passionate female. To have my own ideas, my own opinions, and to stand up for what I believe in. Over the last few years, I came to realize that not everyone was accepted based on gender, the color of their skin, sexual orientation, religion or lack thereof. I knew it was time for me to care. To make my voice heard. To use my vote to speak for what I believe in.
As a mom of two young girls, I want to instill a passion for caring for others and fighting for what they believe in.
I want them to see me being passionate in helping others with what I am able to give. I want them to have big ideas and to voice those ideas without fear. I want them to see you can have different skin colors, think differently and worship differently, but at the end of the day we are all in this together.
As a mom of a baby boy, I want to show him how to respect women.
I want to show him that gender does not negate someone’s ability to lead. A powerful woman is someone to look up to, just as much as a powerful man. I want my son to find his voice and be passionate, too, without degrading others.
It’s been a rough year, but through it all we can find our voice. We can stand together to move forward. Maybe you are reading this is feeling like your vote doesn’t matter, that your ideas are not worthy of being heard, or that you shouldn’t voice your opinion. Maybe you didn’t vote in this election. Maybe you have never voted. Maybe politics don’t interest you. I get it. I was there, too.
Don’t be afraid to use your voice. Find your passion and fight for it.
