Louder than Checkmarks

 

We don’t just vote on election day.

We vote in every way we live our lives

Give our lives to others in sacrifice

Or vice versa.

 

The chains of a day don’t limit my voice

In a ballot cast, now past.

My choice is freedom now.

Can’t take that away

To lock in a day,

Preserved in results.

 

Results are unfolding,

Molding our understanding of society

How we want to be as a culture

A giver or a vulture.

 

I vote everyday,

Choose the way I say hello

To someone I don’t know,

Choose the smile across the counter,

Or choose the retraction of eye contact,

letting the impact keep us apart.

 

But I want to start fighting the me

That cares more about looking down

Than looking around.

That me that cares how I’ll get ahead

Instead of seeing who needs me

To be someone today in the way we interact.

The impact of my vote is in action.