ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, November 3, 1996 TAG: 9611040012
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
COLUMN: guest column
SOURCE: STEFAN MORIKAWA
Last Sunday morning as I sipped coffee, listening to public radio - some people were talking momentously about the upcoming election, and I realized I needed to decide whom to vote for.
The problem is that picking a president from that whirling political chaos is like having to choose one of the following - Moe, Curly, or some other guy from Texas with a big gun.
The question, then, is: Do I vote or what? Do I throw up my hands and join the hordes of Americans who are leading the largest voter apathy phenomenon in modern history (something one of the people on the radio said), thus letting the helm of my country fall to what fate it may? Or, do I take a look at my options and choose the lesser of evils and hope that everything works out?
Well, shamefully enough, I'll probably grit my teeth and choose what I see as the lesser of evils.
However, I am going to do something a little different this year. I will rake leaves for an elderly woman I know, something I haven't had much time for since I began working long weeks. I will also remove an unsightly boat from my side yard, so that my neighbors don't have to look at it. And I will go to three local meetings and actually speak my opinion - maybe I'll go to a PTA meeting, maybe a Town of Blacksburg meeting, or I may just put in a weekend with Habitat for Humanity. I don't know yet.
Could it be that the whole idea of having a president who can answer all our problems is unreasonable to begin with? No individual, be they Bill Clinton or George Washington, can possibly be able to decide what is right for 250 million other individuals, can they - not when the whole idea is that everyone has a right to be different.
The math doesn't work out. One gun control law (or any law) does not go into a number like 250,000,000, and come out equaling "one." Or not the "one" as in "one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
I'm not saying we don't need a leader who will make certain decisions, but I think we need to take more responsibility into our own hands. At least don't sit around thinking someone else is always going to do the dishes.
Isn't it beautiful that we have a choice in the first place? In some countries you would be killed for saying anything antipolitical. We need to remember that with privileges come responsibilities. Kings and queens who become complacent - who defile themselves and their surroundings - lose the throne.
Let's learn from our history lessons, and get at this stacked-up mess before it all comes tumbling down.
Stefan Morikawa lives in Blacksburg and works for a company in Floyd County.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB