Opinion: On Election Day, I am glad it is over
Lyndsey Schley
Lyndsey Schley is a sophomore news major and columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].
As I go to the polls Tuesday and cast my ballot for a presidential election for the first time, I will feel pride but also relief.
For a few months once every four years, you cannot avoid politics. I’m fairly knowledgeable on politics, so this is not the worst time for me. I learn some things, I teach people some things and sometimes we come out better.
However, there is a point in every single election at which it gets old. When someone says something and despite the fact you know you could easily find information to support your point, you just do not care.
I hit that point last Tuesday.
Arguing eventually wears one down. Sometimes, it is not worth it.
There are people you will never convince to agree with you. There is no amount of facts, studies, statistics or emotional appeals that will change their minds. Mind you, this is not just in politics; this is also in everything else in life.
The key is to identify these people and not even go there. It may be really tempting to try, because maybe it would be more valuable to you because it is harder, but just do not do it. Your effort would be better spent on a more constructive conversation with a party who is not set in their opinion.
Furthermore, maybe I do not even want to know I disagree with someone. I honestly do not even want to know if you think that gay people are not entitled to the same rights as you, or that schoolchildren should be required should say prayers at school.
However, if you say these sorts of things are in front of me, I am going to disagree with you.
That is the thing about the election season. Politics is everywhere, and people are going to casually drop these sorts of opinions because it will be relevant to the advertisement that just played on the television, was in front of your YouTube video or was lodged in some guy’s yard. The only way to avoid politics would be to buy a cabin in the wilderness with no phone, television or Internet connection and stay there until the whole thing blows over.
Maybe this is not terrible. No one can say they are completely uninformed. Even if someone does not vote or is not well-informed, they at least know something about the election. There are probably few people in the United States that do not know this election is going on, and I am sure that helps voter turnout.
However, soon the results will be determined, and I can get used to whichever president the country elects. They will make political decisions that I will support or not support, and I will enter conversations on those decisions. But Wednesday, I am not going to get a flyer in the mail telling me who to vote for, and I am OK with that.