E pluribus unum

I’m 56 and the first time I was eligible to vote in a general election was 1984. I have voted in every single one since. The recent presidential elections have been historic and certainly felt that way when I voted. The first African-American president, the possibility of the first female president, and now, it doesn’t feel as much like an election of candidates as much as it feels like we are voting for authoritarianism or democracy. I could feel the weight of the moment in the featherlight secrecy envelope. My ballot has been mailed and now we wait for our future to be determined. It seems hyperbolic to think of it in this way, but this is where we are in 2020. Let’s all remind each other to vote early and to take a few deep breaths from time to time. E pluribus unum.