Search This Blog

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

I Did Something Today I Haven't Done in 28 Years

Oh stop thinking you know what it is. And you - get your mind out of the gutter right now.

The last time I did this, I was 20 years old. The Philadelphia Phillies won their first (and only) World Series that year.

A month after I did it, John Lennon was shot and killed (not that I had anything to do with it).

Drum roll please....

Today, I voted.

And before you start yelling at your computer monitor about how un-American I am, let me tell you this. I feel bad. I should have voted in countless elections - God knows I had an opinion on some of them. But apathy has rules my political life since 1980.

So what broke me out of my habitual laziness? This is the first year I really felt like what was happening was impacting me personally. My retirement fund lost more than $70,000 in a matter of weeks, and I didn't have that much to begin with. I never agreed with the war in Iraq, and I've been proven right. I travel internationally a lot, and the last couple of years I've been a little nervous. I haven't gone so far as some of my coworkers that put a Canadian flag on everything they own in order to fool people into thinking they're not American, but it's a little scary walking around some places these days.

And the folks getting Social Security are getting a cost of living raise - about time. The Minimum Wage is going up too - again, about time. But I haven't had a raise, cost of living or otherwise, for several years either. Don't get me wrong - I have a good standard of living, and I've been lucky - I love my job. I just wish I could really experience the "American Dream" by paying off my credit cards, car, mortgage, etc. and getting that lake house in Minnesota.

Am I asking for too much?

No comments: