I VOTED!

Just couldn’t wait any longer!

This has been the third time that I voted for the President of the United States. Although I moved to the U.S. in 1977, after four years of living in Japan, I remained a Permanent Resident until 2015, a.k.a. a “Resident Alien”. Which suited me well, because I always felt a bit like an alien, no matter where I was: Germany, Japan, and certainly in the United States. But: I wasn’t allowed to vote. Which isn’t fair, really, because I had to pay taxes. Remember “No taxation without representation”? The political slogan which caused the Boston Tea Party and American Revolution? I decided to become a citizen, and in 2016 I was allowed to vote. My favorite candidate was Bernie of course, but I voted for Hillary, just in case; I lived in solidly-blue New Mexico and my vote didn’t really matter, and yet, as I said, just in case. We know how that turned out. 

I grew up in the aftermath of the Nazi time and World War II; I was born in Germany in 1946. My earliest childhood years were overshadowed by the war: there were bombed-out houses on the street where I lived. The grown-ups warned us little kids to stay away from the rubble, because floors could break in and we could get hurt. And we were not supposed to play with bombs, should we find one. I had no idea what a bomb looked like, so I guess I was lucky I never came across one. 

When the extended family got together on Sunday afternoons for coffee and cake at my grandparents’ house, I listened to the stories of my father’s older siblings. About the air raids at nights when they had to wake up their young children and rush to the aerial protection bunkers – huge concrete blocks without any windows which always looked sinister and menacing when I was little.  How could my parents and the people in their generation live through years of war? I couldn’t understand it, not when I was a kid, not now.

Once I entered middle school I heard about the holocaust. That’s when I started to ask my parents and relatives: “How could you let this happen? How COULD this happen?” The answers, at the time, were highly unsatisfactory. The people who had lived through the Nazi-time and the war were simply unable to confront these questions. Even if they were not active nazis, they had been told that Germany was the greatest nation on the Earth, and now the world said they were not. They lost. They were poor, their cities lay in ruins, they were shamed for heinous crimes against humanity. The most common answer to my questions: “We didn’t know. We had no idea what was going on”. 

In the Berlin Nollendorfplatz subway station, a pink triangle plaque honors gay male victims. CC 3.0

What I learned still later: it wasn’t only Jewish people who were brutally persecuted and murdered. The acronym LGBTQ+ didn’t exist, but if you identified with any part of it you were in great danger. Gay men were sent to prison and concentration camps where they were tortured and executed.  Same for people with mental and/or physical disabilities – forced sterilization if they were lucky, “euthanasia” in gas chambers more common. Gypsies, as Roma people were called, faced the same fate.

You’d think “Never Again” – that’s certainly what I grew up with. But when even mainstream media use the term “fascist” to describe one of  the candidates running for the highest office in the United States, one might get worried. I know quite a number of people, also in Europe, who tell me they are worried.

Let me give you a piece of advice. To worry is an entirely useless activity. Think about it: when you worry about something that might happen in the future, has this ever changed anything? When it’s a cloudy day and you bring an umbrella because you don’t want to be surprised by rain, that’s not worrying but being prepared. So, check your voter registration, know where to go to vote, and study your ballot so you’re aware of what’s going on in your state. But PLEASE: don’t worry about what will happen after November 5. So much is at stake, democracy itself could take a dive – but worrying about it won’t prevent any of it. Not one bit. Nothing. Nada.

Of course, worry is a feeling, and not so easy to control. However, when you notice you worry about the outcome of the election, what might happen – and there’s plenty of awful stuff – stop yourself for a moment, and just breathe. Be aware of your anxiety. Notice it, and acknowledge it. And then think about what it might accomplish. Can this feeling change anything? Once you realize that it can’t, maybe you can let it go – just drop it. After doing this a few times it’ll become easier because you’re allowing your voice of reason to be in control. Give it a try over the next few days – maybe it’ll help.

Formally titled "Peace, Little Girl," but more commonly known as the "Daisy" ad, this famous political commercial was produced primarily by Tony Schwartz for President Lyndon B. Johnson's 1964 campaign against Barry Goldwater. Preserved from a 35mm print in the Tony Schwartz Collection by the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio Visual Conservation.

The TV commercial above aired in 1964 as part of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s 1964 campaign against Barry Goldwater (a right-wing extremist who was being compared to Hitler). Johnson won in a landslide victory. Just sayin’.

If I would have been born in the United States this would be my 16th or 14th time to vote for a president, depending on which state I lived in. Officially, the voting age for all Americans was lowered from 21 to 18 on July 1, 1971 with Amendment 26 of the Constitution. Some states such as Georgia allowed 18-year-olds to vote. Either way, I hear a lot of people my age say that this is the most important election of their lifetime. This should motivate even the most complacent couch-potato.

I leave you with an absolutely lovely piece of music by one of the few current music geniuses that I know, Jon Batiste. Enjoy. 

A quick reminder: throughout the month of October, I’m offering a 20% discount for paid subscriptions. You can always read my posts for free, so the only incentive I can offer is my appreciation and gratitude; you’ll be doing a good deed and that always feels good — you’ll see! Here's the link.