Stand For Something

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My eighteen-year-old daughter is voting for the first time in her life today. I am so excited for her. Since she was a little girl, my husband would bring her to vote with him. Our polling place was also her elementary school, and there was always something mysterious about seeing the school gym transformed into an adult world for one day. Now she belongs to this adult world. And I feel proud that she is taking the time from her busy college life to come back home and to stand for something.
She knows the issues. Iraq, minimum wage, stem cell research, gay marriage and last but not least abortion. Believe me, she has lots to say about those subjects and would hold her own in any discussion.
Today, she is contributing her voice, helping to shape the world in which she would like to live in. A world in which we would once and for all put the abortion issue behind us, because it is a a woman's right to choose. A world in which gay marriage is as accepted as the union between her parents, because she has grown up knowing gay couples who live together in the same loving relationships. And most of all a world in which politicians do not use lies and deceit to start a war to profit big business.
Of course this cannot be achieved by voting once, but it is that first step towards claiming the future from the previous generation. When my daughter goes to the polls today, I will trust her decision and will be happy that we have taught her the importance of having a say.