Before I came home to the US last year, I promised myself that I would try to be gone again by the 2012 presidential election.
Score.
Being away for the months leading up to the election has probably been good for my psyche. I get pretty passionate about politics given the venue.
To a certain extent, I've been able to turn my head and pretend that the US isn't in a battle of ideologies and fighting for two very different visions of the future (regardless of the actual capacity of either man to change the course of said future - read: policy, congress).
But given that, being away hasn't lessened my passion on the subject and I still read the news vehemently and watched The Daily Show religiously. My limited windows of US public opinion (ie Facebook) had left me feeling confident that most people were swayed in the same general direction as myself. To further my confidence, outside the US (foreigners and ex-pats alike) there is hardly the split opinion over which man people think should be granted the reigns for the next for four years.
But in the last few days I've been feeling anxious, to say the least. And now, to some extent I wish I had been home so I could have volunteered - knocked on doors, made some calls - and gotten out the vote. Because when all is said and done, it just doesn't feel like I did enough to fight for the things I believe in and for the path I wish my country to follow. Regardless of the outcome, I don't feel like I participated enough. If My Guy wins, then it wont be on account of anything I did (especially because I vote in a state where my vote is lost to the Electoral College). But then, if The Other Guy wins, I know I'll feel even worse.
So the lesson I learned (again):
I may have avoided some personal injury from leaving the trenches of the battle. But a battle worth winning is also worth fighting.
