I've mentioned here many times that this site is not political. I refuse to make it so. However, I am politically active, and I'm a proud member of a democracy. Tonight was our federal election, and so I was not able to write my normal sports blog. My only comment on the election is a brief story.
I have a slow leak in one of the front tires in my car, but I'd forgotten to check it the past few days. When I drove up to the local elementary school to vote tonight, a ruffled looking man with stained fingernails and only a few teeth left in his mouth knocked on my window. I'd planned on driving to a gas station, but he gestured with a finger for me to wait. I got out of my car.
"You can't drive with a tire like that," he said. "Wait, I think I got a pump in here."
He pulled out a compression pump (or whatever you call a thing you plug in that pumps air into tires. Clearly, I know nothing about cars) and hooked it up.
It only took a few minutes to pump my tire up.
"I'm Steve," I said.
He shook my hand. "Phil. So do you know how you're voting?"
We chatted briefly and it turned out that we were voting for two different parties.
It didn't matter. If anything, it only strengthened my confidence as a citizen of a country that embraces a wide variety of views.
We all believe different things, But kindness is all that really matters, no matter the politics.
That's what I learned tonight.
I have a slow leak in one of the front tires in my car, but I'd forgotten to check it the past few days. When I drove up to the local elementary school to vote tonight, a ruffled looking man with stained fingernails and only a few teeth left in his mouth knocked on my window. I'd planned on driving to a gas station, but he gestured with a finger for me to wait. I got out of my car.
"You can't drive with a tire like that," he said. "Wait, I think I got a pump in here."
He pulled out a compression pump (or whatever you call a thing you plug in that pumps air into tires. Clearly, I know nothing about cars) and hooked it up.
It only took a few minutes to pump my tire up.
"I'm Steve," I said.
He shook my hand. "Phil. So do you know how you're voting?"
We chatted briefly and it turned out that we were voting for two different parties.
It didn't matter. If anything, it only strengthened my confidence as a citizen of a country that embraces a wide variety of views.
We all believe different things, But kindness is all that really matters, no matter the politics.
That's what I learned tonight.
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