Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Standing in line

I awoke ten minutes before the alarm went off at six today from the anticipation of voting and the elections. I was amazed to pull up to a full parking lot and Blue Ridge being temporarily jammed with people trying to figure out where else to park. After finding a place, it was a quarter of a mile walk to the line. I have never been in a line longer than five or six people to vote. This one is literally hundreds of people. A steady trickle of people is arriving, like drips in an IV that never looks more full or less emtpy. My initial reaction to this was disappointment because I know 85% of them are voting for the greater of two evils.

The line has hardly moved for the last ten minutes. The flush of red light has washed out to a brighter hue of yellow. The faces of my fellowcitizens are plainly visible now. The anticipation of the crowd has cooled to resignation. Clearly we will be here in the autumn chill for a while. We have all shared a common mistake in thinking we'd "beat the rush". Hopefully that's the only mistake I share with this crowd today.

Wow! This guy just went through the line handing out a voting guide- to all the black people! He looked right past me as he walked right past me!!! But it's okay, he's black, so it's not racism...

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh, man. I pray that it's not as busy later this morning when I go to vote. I'll have the kiddos with me.

Brandon Briscoe said...

Ouch. that last bit hurts me to read. it's amazing how race has played such a roll in this election.

i haven't really thought about it much until someone brings it up.

I suppose there are still lots of hurt feelings in this country. Makes it difficult to understand.