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In a country such as ours, founded on the rights of individual citizens, built on centuries of struggle by individuals to ensure that the rights of individuals were represented and safeguarded and shared equally, our most precious right as a citizen is the right to vote. To have the opportunity to establish the kind of representation that supports and maintains a government that defends all our rights, that safeguards those rights, and that uses our tax dollars wisely and for the purpose of supporting the greater good of all citizens.

In a little over a month I’ll be 69 years old. I have voted in every presidential and congressional election since I was 18. I have been a life long Democrat, though after the last election I thought seriously about switching my vote to Independent. I am deeply troubled by the apathy among voters. That in our last Presidential election, approximately 40% of those eligible to vote either didn’t bother or were, in some way, prevented from voting. I am disturbed by young people who seem not to care enough that their voice be heard since those in elected office have a huge impact on their lives and their future every day through the decisions they make and the actions they take in our government. Youth culture today seems to be so caught up in their cell phones and their Instagram accounts that, when stopped on the street and asked, they cannot even name recent presidents from their pictures or recognize the name of a cabinet member or name their own congressional representative or senator.

The most recent mass school shooting in Florida brought a surge of teens to the stages to appeal to the citizens of this country to stop being apathetic, to have the courage and the willingness to speak out and vote and help the young citizens that will be our future to survive every day. I hope these young people will be a wave of new non-apathetic involved young people that understand not only their responsibility, but their power as voters.

The up coming mid-term elections may be the most important in our history. The current congress is overloaded with aging white men that owe their years of service to the wealthy and the corporations that have poured billions of dollars into their campaigns through donations and super pacs. They spend millions on negative advertising designed to keep people fearful of change and believing that they are doing what is right for their constituents. They do not represent the public. There is a huge discrepancy and inequality in the balance of women vs. men in congress. I am delighted to see so many younger women being elected in local races. We need desperately to replace many of the long term die-hards to bring new energy and new ideas to our government. Certainly there is something to be said about experience. But too many in congress spend their lives and their integrity to garner the financial support that keeps them in power. And that is the key word. “POWER”. This is what they, too often, seek to protect when they have been in congress too long.

The current administration is awash in scandals, investigations, incompetence, lies and deceit. The congress has lost sight of their responsibility to protect and defend the constitution and the laws of this country. They turn a blind eye and have given up their integrity for fear of losing votes from what is actually a minority of the country. It is shameful, and it is dangerous.

If you know people who can vote and don’t, if you know young people who are not concerned enough to vote, if you know someone who cannot get to the poles or register without assistance, help them. Encourage them to be active. And don’t neglect your own responsibility and and precious right. Don’t be apathetic! VOTE! Our lives and our nation depend on it now more than ever.

It’s time to get back to my blog again.  I have a lot of things I want to talk about. Not tonight because I’ve had too many Gin and Tonics. But the time has come to get back to this journal of thoughts, art, ideas, and images. See you soon!

As I get older I am sorely aware of how fast time passes. When we are children we cannot wait to get bigger. When we hit our teens we can’t wait to be able to get driver’s license and our own car. Then it’s reaching 21 and being “legal”. Time is like molasses and we are anxious for it to shoot by, we are immortal and will live forever. We tempt fate and do dangerous stupid things without regard. Then one day you find yourself looking back with grown children and grand children and great grandchildren and three divorces and signing up for Social Security and Medicare and realizing that time has somehow sped up to an alarming pace and with every cherished weekend ending and going back to work on Monday that you’ve gotten old somehow and wishing you could just slow the clock down.

Time gets very valuable when you have less of it. We don’t realize that when we are very young.

In the past year, three people I was close to have died.  Last March, just before his birthday, my brother passed away. Died in his sleep. He had diabetes, was a smoker all his adult and teen years. He was a wonderful person and mostly I will miss his laugh.  A few weeks ago I found out that another person I knew very well had died. We were good friends for years. Played cards together, worked together, shared a lot personally. We had a big falling out about five years ago and didn’t speak for two years, but then mended fences and tried to be close again. Then a year ago, another falling out. And again we haven’t spoken since. What I will remember most about him was how much he loved his kids. This week I heard that one of my best friends from high school had passed away.  We were very close for years back when I lived in Georgia. I had heard from mutual friends that he had been ill for a while but didn’t know the nature of his health problems. Now he too has died.

I am at the age where every day brings that possibility.  That I will hear that someone else I knew has died.  I know people that have survived serious illnesses, cancer, accidents, have lost children. And as we age and see that life is only a breath away from ending for us and everyone around us, we begin to finally get very selfish at wanting to hold on to every day, to drag our feet and slow the whole run away train down.

I wish I had stayed in touch with my brother more often. I wish I could have stayed friends with Frank, could have survived his temper and his irrational mind. I wish I had made the effort to contact Jim and just talked with him about old times when he was still alive. I can’t go back and change those things. And I know there are other things I would wish, but don’t know that I will do anything in my remaining days to save myself the regret I will feel when they present themselves to me.

But I do know that every day means more to me with each passing day. And the people who mean a lot to me need to hear it more often. Opportunity, like time, is fleeting and fragile. Carpe diem!