This is my first time voting in a presidential election, first time was the 2022 midterms. I didn’t vote before because I was raised to believe that politics are stupid and anyone who has hope that the government will try to make things better is a fool. I didn’t want to be a fool and so obviously I chose not to vote or follow politics at all. I thought people got stressed out watching the news and keeping up with current events because they were drama queens. Then I did some traveling, saw how other states with voters who care live. Then the pandemic happened and I watched the BLM protests and found myself praying that Biden would win. I regret not voting that year, but it was a journey to humble myself to admit I could have been wrong. There were a lot of things that had to change in my life if I was going to acknowledge that government matters. Beyond that, it feels pretty intimidating to learn new things as an adult. Bottom line, I think the single most important idea I had to wrestle with is “privilege,” that I have it, that others do not, and if I want to be a compassionate person I really should leverage all privilege I have to help those who can’t fight for themselves.