“Interdependence is a
fact. Not an opinion.” --Peter
Coyote
What’s the big deal if I want to sit in the privacy of my
own house, light up a marijuana cigarette, and just get stoned? Who is it really hurting? What difference does my one personal choice
really make for the rest of the world?
Those are some of the questions asking for an answer, on
ballot Question 4, come next Tuesday, when Massachusetts voters will decide whether or
not to legalize recreational marijuana. Now before you conclude that I’m a “No”
vote or a “Yes” vote, think again. My vote is my private choice, your private
choice too, on this and many other important issues and races.
Who will be our President for the next four years? Will kids have access to more charter schools
or will public schools retain their level of funding? Is it time to build more
gambling facilities in Massachusetts
or is enough, enough? Do farm animals need better living conditions or is this instead
government regulatory overreach?
I decide. Choose. Yes. No. Hillary. Donald.
There is something so powerful about the fact that when we as
citizens cast a ballot, we do so alone, on our own. No one looking over our
shoulders to make sure we vote the “right” way.
No one forcing us to vote for just one political party, as in so many
other not so free nations in the world. Many
years ago I was in Guatemala
on their national election day and when I returned to my hotel, a voting
location, I had to walk by a tank parked by the main entrance. It was the
government’s way of intimidating its own citizens. On November 8th, other than having
to run a gauntlet of folks holding signs for their candidate or issue, I will
walk into my polling place free and unfettered, confident in the legitimacy of
my one vote.
My vote is my vote.
Yet there is a community aspect to my vote too and I think voters
can easily forget this truth. We decide that voting is just about “me”: my
rights, my life, my freedom alone. That’s wrong. How I vote, if I vote, is also about “we”. I vote in independence but my vote is also
about interdependence, the fact that we are all in this construct called
democracy together. Who is the best leader for all of America, not
just for some of our nation? Is it Clinton
or Trump? Or what will it mean for our schools, the safety of our roads, the
quality of our life in the Bay
State, if pot becomes
legal? Will that make Massachusetts
a better place to live? Contribute to
building up the common good?
It might seem obvious to state but how we vote matters. It
matters. How we vote will change my life, your life and just as important,
change our life in community. On November 9th the nation and state
will be a very different place for all of us, because of how we collectively vote.
So my vote is also our vote.
A vote is not just personal. A vote is communal. The best
vote balances private rights with public responsibilities to our
neighbors. The best vote decides not
just for this generation but the next generation as well. We vote on behalf of the young, our children,
and the world we will one day hand over to them. The best vote always remembers
that freedom is not just about doing whatever I want. Freedom also entails thoughtful,
compassionate consideration about how my individual actions ripple outward into
the wider world, for the good, for the bad, for sure.
That’s what my faith teaches me. Interdependence. I need you
and you need me and we all need each other. The body politic is like a human
body. The eye cannot say to the hand, “I
have no need of you” nor can the heart say to the brain, “I’m going to go it
alone”. Voting is one of the few
nationwide experiences we still share with each other. It’s exciting. It’s important. Voting makes a
difference, for me in my self contained little home, and for all of us in the
neighborhood called the United
States of America.
So here is my official endorsement for November 8th. Vote as if your one individual life depends
upon it. Vote as if our interdependent
life depends upon it too.
Now get out and vote!
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