And so another school year draws to a close and long-standing readers know what this means: the good-bye column.
These last nine months we have borne witness to, among other things, a historic election, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and, in general, the culmination of the turbulent times we’ve done our best to ride through during this memorable decade.
And yet, despite the “Changefest” of ’09, there’s so much that remains the same. In fact, the most cynical have often been heard saying nothing has changed whatsoever. Partisanship will never die (nor should it), because when the stakes are as high as they are in national affairs, tempers will always flare, and strong convictions will always exist.
These strong opinions come with a price. It’s easy to become so wrapped up in the belief that you are unquestionably right and to perceive those who disagree with you as insulting your intelligence rather than simply seeing things another way, leading to the spats and infighting between parties that have come to be one of the most prominent parts of our national politics.
Most of the time, when people are asked why they don’t get involved with politics, their reason is disillusionment with the system – either because it doesn’t seem to have any effect on the outcome, it doesn’t represent their views, or they’re just plain fed up with the endless back-and-forth bickering. Whatever the reason, the last election perhaps aside, voter involvement has been slipping at a quick rate, and there has grown a feeling of disgust often with the United States itself.
I confess: I was in the same crowd. I couldn’t have cared less as my right to vote came with my 18th birthday, and I found myself questioning more and more what exactly it was that made voting so important, or even meaningful.
But as this latest election approached, I started to realize a sentiment a friend just echoed to me yesterday: The fact that I can question anything about my country at all and not face death or imprisonment is an incredible gift that we take for granted.
I’m obviously not the first person to say this, but as bad as things can get, we shouldn’t forget just how fortunate we really are to have a system that not only gives us the right to choose who leads us, but have the right to criticize them if they don’t do the job as well as we’d like. Were I writing this in, say, North Korea, all I could write about every week would be the great job our Glorious Leader is doing (although, I do that anyway – but at least it’s by choice).
We need to be reminded every once in awhile that while we call our freedoms “rights” to which all people are entitled, until that promise is kept all over the world, those rights are also privileges.
Remember that as you finish up these last two weeks and head off for summer break. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Don’t stop paying attention. It’s a small investment with big returns, and the whole country reaps the benefit from a more informed and involved populace. We live in an exciting time, and important things lie up ahead. The freedoms we enjoy are too valuable to give up on simple disillusionment or belief that things will never change for the better. This nation was built on the belief of things getting better, and it would be a disservice to let pessimism get the best of us.
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