Running to the vote

Sometimes, the conversations we have with our athletes at practice simply blow me away. I get surprised every day about something. On Tuesday, the topic was the upcoming midterm elections. Two of our athletes were discussing their plans to go home and vote, because they did not send in their absentee ballots. One of our young voters lives on Long Island; the other in the Syracuse area. It is so important to them, that they feel the need to drive a fair amount of miles to get back home and cast their ballots. Of course, the coach in me is concerned; that’s a workout day! Will they be back in time for the workout in the afternoon? To the outside observer (and to me, thinking logically as I type this), this is flawed thinking. So many young folks are not engaged in the process – not registered to vote, not up on the current events, none of it. So to have two young women who care enough about the process to go home and cast their ballots … come on, man, I shouldn’t be worrying about some random Tuesday workout now, should I? Good for them. Our political system is deeply flawed, but our right to vote is ingrained in our country’s DNA. That these two ladies would go out of their way to vote means a lot. Nicely done.