Step Away

When I was in college, I was all about politics. I was in student government. I helped in voter registration drives. I didn't go quite so far as to watch C-SPAN because, well, why would I? Later, I worked as an intern for a company in DC that was a large cog in the political system of the country. I worked with PACs. I reviewed FEC filings. I filed complaints with the FEC...not that anyone ever looked at them...

But I stepped away, after a while. It is too hard. It is difficult to put your heart and soul into something and watch people discount the cause for which you've worked. You can't help but have your soul die just a little when your candidate loses. Or your law fail to pass.

Now I'm down to caring only every four years. And even that is getting to be too much. I've spent the last two weeks reading everything on the 'net about the conventions. I've read fact sheets and pundit sites and watched video and listened to replayed speeches. And I cannot do it anymore. Thank God the conventions are over.

I got into a fight last night with someone over politics. And then I agreed with people whose political positions I'd never known before. You know how you can work with someone or be friends with them for a long time? And an election comes up and you start talking? And, all of a sudden you see them completely differently? Funny, isn't it?

People think differently. I wouldn't have it any other way. Even though sometimes I want to hit myself in the head with a rock with frustration, everyone has different views on stuff. That doesn't make me love them less. Instead, it opens up new and interesting possibilities and lets you know even more about them than you did before.

But I still have to step away from the internet. Otherwise I'm going to start looking for a big rock.