Voted!

When I was younger my parents would always take me with them whenever they got the opportunity to vote. They would go off into their little booth and cast their vote. I would wait for them and "cast my own vote" (the people at the polling places would give me a fake ballot and pretend that I was voting too). This instilled a very important value in me. Voting is important.

Today it was finally my turn to truly cast my vote. I went to my local polling station and voted on all the issues that currently face California.

As I was walking down the street I was getting extremely nervous. Thinking, "what if I'm making the wrong decision..." blah blah blah. I mean this is the first presidential election that I have had the opportunity to vote in, therefore making me just a tad nervous.

I finally get to the voting place (that happens to be just a block away from my house)and as I'm walking up the steps there is an old man walking up them as well.

This gentleman turns to me and says, "you look so young! You look like you could be 12! I'm proud of you coming out to vote!"

At that moment in time all of those anxieties went away! I stood up tall and went through the line to check in and get my ballot.

I was the youngest person in the room and it felt great! There was a 93 year old man there who said "I'm 93 years old. They didn't kill me in the 2nd world war, and that's why I'm still here and voting."

It was all just a good experience. At any rate after I was done voting I got my "I Voted!" sticker and went to celebrate by getting donuts.

I'm glad that I have the great privilege to live in such a great country with the opportunity to vote to express myself with the freedom of speech and religion. I encourage all registered voters to go out and vote today. If you are unable to participate in this election for whatever reason I encourage you to do all you can to register and be eligible to vote in any upcoming elections for your area.

I mean if you think about it... if you didn't vote (and technically could have, but you didn't register or just didn't vote) you have no right to complain about what's happening in the economy, with foreign affairs, or anything else really. It was your choice to stand on the sidelines and you'll have to live with that decision.

I hope everyone has a great election day and I'll be glued to the TV at work tonight to see what the outcomes are.