It was only a month. I missed it by a month.
The last time all of this commotion was happening around the country, I was 17 years old. About a month after the election, I turned 18.
Back then, it didn’t seem like much to not have to worry about “who I thought would be the next great thing for our wonderful country.”
However, the more I look back on it, the more bothered I am by my luck to miss being a part of something so big by such a small time period.
Good news for me though, Presidential elections happen every four years. And I’ve matured enough to know, even though I am one out of approximately nine million people in the state of Michigan, my voice counts and this choice matters.
Now, I’m not going to sit here and tell you who I am going to vote for and why you should vote for that person too…blah, blah, blah. I am actually not even going to talk about the candidates specifically, and to be honest, I don’t even know who I plan to vote for.
The point of this column is to personally invite you to take a journey with me. I’m taking responsibility to educate myself on what is important to me from a political standpoint, and as part of the “young” generation, I think you should, too.
We have approximately 40 days to learn as much as we can about the people who will make the choices for our country and to shape our own opinion about each of them.
However, before you jump on the bandwagon, you need to take the first step in the process: Register to vote. You can register at the local Secretary of State branch, located on Michigan Avenue in downtown Big Rapids, or visit Michigan.gov.sos and fill out the application.
And if you were wondering, you should probably do it now because the last day to register to vote for the upcoming election is Oct. 9.
I don’t think that we, as the youngest group of people with the opportunity to vote, should take the advice of our parents, friends, family or anyone, for that matter, about who we should choose as our next president.
We should make this personal. It’s time we take the responsibility for learning about the candidates and make our own choice. Through the next few weeks, I will be keeping all of you updated about what’s happening with me during this challenge.
As I begin to shape my own opinion about these political matters, I challenge you to do the same.