BRENT WHITE writes:
The day of the caucuses I became severely ill. The day after it got worse. But I stuck it out. I seem to have a tendency to become ill while traveling. But each time I do I remind myself it's likely that I'll never experience what I'm doing again, and that I'd regret staying in bed.
I'm glad I didn't stay in bed. Attending this year's Iowa caucuses has made me examine our electoral process in ways I haven't before. It's made me appreciate living in a democracy. Voting is something many of us don't do, especially those of us under the age of 30. Others who do it, it seems, often take it for granted.
But watching these people in Iowa take caucusing so seriously made me realize how important it is to be mindful of electing public servants, especially those whose power reaches beyond neighborhoods and communities.
Americans have different ideas of what it means to be "patriotic." When I'm thinking about that word in the future I'll think of a cold January night, where 800-some Iowans gathered in a large middle school gym to stand up for the presidential candidate of their choice.
Brent Steven White is an undergraduate journalism student from Portland, Oregon.
Posted by awiens at January 8, 2008 6:12 PM
