delara, interrupted

I know I will get a lot of flack for what I am about to say, and that is fine. This year is the first year I went to vote. (insert gasp here) If you have been keeping up with my blog, you can calculate (based on my age) how many elections I missed. What was interesting to me about going to vote this morning was how I felt.

I felt lucky and I felt proud.

Those who know me know that I am not by ANY means overly patriotic or even nationalistic. I am grateful for living here and having the life that I have, but I do not attribute it to being "American" per se. I take more pride in being an evolved human being above and beyond my citizenship. Should I move to another country and change citizenship, hypothetically, it would not change how I feel about this country or any other for that matter.

I sincerely take to heart this quote:

"The Great Being saith: Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth... It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens." (Bahá'u'lláh, Gleanings, p250)

But today, for the first time (ever, perhaps), I felt a sense of pride in being able to vote. Not the ego-based pride that runs rampant in society today, but I just had the sense that it is a privilege to be able to vote freely as we do and to influence (or at least have the illusion that you are able to influence) the governmental affairs of your country. And so, I was proud I was able to vote this morning.

And lucky - lucky to be living in a nation (and an era - let us not forget that it has only been about 83 years since women established their legal right to vote nationally in this country) that allows us to do so.

And yes - the chads cracked me up this morning. As they were punched through my ballot, I thought, "Hm. These darn little rectangles were the cause of all that nonsense four years ago??!? Bizarre."

If you are a registered voter and have not yet voted today, please do.