September
19, 2012
Dear Mr.
Romney:
President Obama is your opponent. Not me, not other Americans, not the 47%. We are not the “others” or “them”. Don’t forget, we are not just potential
voters, but your fellow Americans: Republican. Democrat. Black. White. Latino.
Asian. Native. Gay. Straight. Jewish. Christian. Buddhist. Atheist. Agnostic.
Hindu. Sikh. Muslim. Rich. Poor.
Whatever.
Those wanting to vote for you I refuse to
label with a percentage or anything else, because they are not an abstract. They
are my mother, my friends, my neighbors, my family, and my fellow Peace
Corps Volunteers.
Today I will be printing off my absentee
ballot and mailing it in with fingers crossed that it will arrive on time so my
vote actually counts. After living in
several developing countries, I’ve realized just how privileged I am as an
American to participate in a democracy. Billions will never know that great feeling of
walking out of a voting booth and earning that little sticker.
As a Peace Corps Volunteer, I often fumble
until I my find way. But I believe in
what I do. And I like to think that
despite belonging to a different party, so do you.
I think about these lyrics everyday here in
Uganda:
I was raised up
believing I was somehow unique
Like a snowflake
distinct among snowflakes, unique in each way you can see
And now after
some thinking, I’d say I’d rather be
A functioning
cog in some great machinery serving something beyond me
From
the song “Helplessness Blues” by Fleet Foxes
Although I won’t be voting for you, next
year you might be my president. So
please, drop the percentages and the labels.
Whether you win or lose the election, strive to become the cog that
Americans need you to be in the great machinery of not only our country, but
also the world.
Sincerely,
Ashley Givan
Peace Corps Response Volunteer, Uganda
Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (2007-2009),
China
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