Duchess of Evil

I don't talk about politics on this journal, but I will talk about voting.

I dropped off our ballots on the way to work this morning.

Seriously, I have no idea why every state hasn't already gone mail-in ballot for voting. No lines. No standing in a tiny square with a shower curtain pondering the issues. Just you and your ballot in the comfort of your own home, and then either an easy drive by the ballot box, or an even easier (if you voted early) drop-it-in-the-mailbox. We in Oregon have been enjoying this convenience for several years, now, and it has changed not just the way we vote, but how many of us vote.

Me? I waited until last night, largely because last week was pretty full of sewing stuff for me to sit down and go through all the measures, which have to be read very carefully lest someone get something sneaky by. But I dropped our ballots off this morning, and you know what? It is a fantastic feeling living in a country where I can vote on these things. Me, a woman, a lowly admin assistant, can vote on what things get passed or failed, and who gets to lead our country.

It's a powerful feeling.

One of Mark's martial arts students is from...um...I forget the name, but an Eastern European country. At some point before he left there to come here, he was told he would either join the military, or they would kill him. "They" being the government.

I didn't know this story when I asked him, one evening, if he missed "home". He looked at me and said simply "America is my home, and I would never want to leave it."

He talked a lot that night about the freedoms we enjoy living in this country that other countries don't have. He said how he sees, too often, people not appreciating this in their own country. He says these people should try living in a country like the one he grew up in. He says how much he loves America, and when he talks about it there is this gleam in his eyes. He isn't an American citizen yet, but he's working on it. When I asked him, he said the process is very long and complicated. That it is difficult. And then he said "But that's not a bad thing. It's good that it takes something, some effort and work to become an American. If I could go out right now, this minute, and be given my citizenship, I would do it, but I'm not upset that it takes a lot more than that to get that prize."

I am fascinated talking to him. He can literally go on for hours, and the things he sees as an "outsider" that I never thought of make me look at my own country with new eyes. He's been living here for...I'm not sure how long, but he's been teaching Physics at the local University for over four years, and he was here for awhile before that. But he's not a citizen yet, and he doesn't get to vote today. But I do, and I am more thankful for that than words can say.