Everyone's opinion counts in booth

Tomorrow I am going to the only place in the entire country where I am considered completely equal to the president of the United States. In this place it won’t matter if I am short or tall; young or old; fat or thin. It won’t matter how I dress or who I love. It won’t matter which god I do or do not worship. It won’t matter if I am smarter than Einstein or dumber than a post. It won’t matter if my ideas are mainstream or on the fringes of insanity.
In this place I and my opinions are just as important as anyone else’s. By now you may have realized that the place I am referring to is a voting booth. It is the one place where I matter as much as the next person.
Each and every one of us forms our opinions with the information we have. Each of us has a unique outlook on life. We are all valuable members of society. Yes, that includes all of us, not just the ones who agree with our points of view or who behave as we think they should.
There are many people who choose not to exercise their right to vote and I’m fine with that. Those people have as much of a right not to make their opinions official as I have to record my own choices. As I push the buttons that say I choose this or that person for the job in question, I add my opinion to those of all the other people who also choose to vote.
I usually vote for the losers so if you are a candidate who wants to win, it would be wise of you to ask me to vote for your opponent. On those occasions when my choice wins, I have been known to be disappointed in the job they do. Rarely do I vote for a winner who lives up to my expectations. It has happened a few times, but not often. Still, I always hope that this time will be an exception and that not only will I vote for winners, but once in office those people will do the job better than anyone else ever has.
There is a part of me that wishes that the equality found in the voting booth extended into the rest of life. But the sad truth is that outside that small area we are all judged inferior by somebody. No matter if you are the most brilliant person on the planet, somebody, somewhere, thinks you are dumb. In today’s society we are never satisfied. We strive to be thinner, richer, healthier, wiser. We feel the disapproval of others as they frown at our choices of clothing, cars or jobs. Nothing and nobody is ever good enough.
Almost every woman’s magazine that exists has at least one article telling us how to improve ourselves. I don’t recall ever reading a story that says ordinary is good enough. The implication is that we are somehow unworthy if we don’t conform to an unrealistic image of perfection while starting a charity that saves the world. We are constantly bombarded with this idea that we are inadequate. The hidden message is that everybody else is better than we are and that our opinions are best kept to ourselves.
In reality, we all matter. We all have value. Our opinions are valid. We are all important and the universe is richer because we exist. Everybody has problems. That’s simply how life works. We live through unspeakable disasters and are blessed with moments of joy that take our breath away. For every time we think we don’t matter, there is someone who is glad we are alive.
Equal? Yes. The president may have more visibility than you and I but all the rest of us who live on this planet make just as much of a difference as he does. Don’t believe me? Just ask your kids or someone else who loves you.
We are part of a whole. We belong here. It is our diversity that makes the world go around. How boring it would be if we were all alike. Still, I am looking forward to making my choices known in that one place where my vote is just as important as anyone else’s. I am looking forward to being seen as equal to the president of our country.