Through Someone Else's Eyes

Sometimes it is refreshing to see things from another person's perspective. For example...

• Sitting on bails of hay in a farm trailer being pulled by a rusty tractor with a large, meaty-handed man at the wheel. Passing through fields of dry cornstalks, a miniature train cruising by, red and orange leaves falling from the trees. Surrounded by kids and parents, cradling the pumpkins they've just selected from the pumpkin patch. A source of unexpected bliss, which as cynical and sleepy adults, SNG and I recognized upon seeing this little reflection of the soul:

• Arriving at the polling place on a Saturday, waiting in a line, and for the first time in your life, having a say in who runs the country. A friend of mine and her husband, both from China, have lived and worked in the US for over a decade. They have two children, both US citizens. After a ridiculously lengthy process and a class-action suit, last summer they finally completed their citizenship process. This week they voted in a national election, for the first time ever in any country. They are my age. Think on it a minute: for the first time they have a real voice in deciding the direction of government. It is easy for those of us who grew up here to take for granted. Some people, who could, don't bother to vote in general elections at all. Seeing this simple act of individual power from the perspective of someone who has never had it is humbling.

I voted today. Regardless of my choice of candidate, regardless of yours, I hope you have made your plan to go and vote, if you are eligible. In the end, whether you canvassed or made cold calls or donated money to a party or a grassroots organization or just sat on your couch watching reruns on Corner Gas, in the end, you have the same power as I do. It's more than some people will ever have in their lifetimes.

And just as lagniappe, this article gave me pause today. Sort of like realizing that your high school principal is a real person and not just an archetype, this lends a refreshing humanity to a topic that is far too easy to generalize.