Thursday, November 10, 2005
Voting
by venitha
A co-worker was surprised to see me at work one day last week. "Isn't it voting day?"
I had to stop and think. Yes, I'd understood his question correctly. This is always, unfortunately, the first thing to check. And, yes, today is..., yes, so in the US, it's...
"Yes!"
"So what are you doing here?"
Hmmm... working? No, I know better than that. Sarcasm is completely lost on Singaporeans. Instead, I gave him a two-minute explanation that was probably one minute and thirty seconds longer than he really wanted.
First, he was surprised to discover that Election Day is not a holiday, as in a day off from work, in the US. Election Day in Singapore, such as it is, is supposedly a holiday. I'll leave my political commentary to this sarcasm and thereby save myself from being charged with sedition.
Next, he was confused by the admittedly foreign concepts involved in the fact that while I voted weeks ago by absentee ballot, many Americans wouldn't bother voting at all since it wasn't a presidential election or even an even-year election.
Lastly, he was astonished when I told him the long list of things I'd voted for. And, well, voted against. Colorado, full of cowboy mentality if not actual cowboys, does seem not to understand the purpose of a representative government. Colorado does, however, understand the purpose of sedition.
In spite of the surprising length of my absentee ballot, there were a few things missing that I would love the opportunity to stuff ballot boxes in favor of:
I had to stop and think. Yes, I'd understood his question correctly. This is always, unfortunately, the first thing to check. And, yes, today is..., yes, so in the US, it's...
"Yes!"
"So what are you doing here?"
Hmmm... working? No, I know better than that. Sarcasm is completely lost on Singaporeans. Instead, I gave him a two-minute explanation that was probably one minute and thirty seconds longer than he really wanted.
First, he was surprised to discover that Election Day is not a holiday, as in a day off from work, in the US. Election Day in Singapore, such as it is, is supposedly a holiday. I'll leave my political commentary to this sarcasm and thereby save myself from being charged with sedition.
Next, he was confused by the admittedly foreign concepts involved in the fact that while I voted weeks ago by absentee ballot, many Americans wouldn't bother voting at all since it wasn't a presidential election or even an even-year election.
Lastly, he was astonished when I told him the long list of things I'd voted for. And, well, voted against. Colorado, full of cowboy mentality if not actual cowboys, does seem not to understand the purpose of a representative government. Colorado does, however, understand the purpose of sedition.
In spite of the surprising length of my absentee ballot, there were a few things missing that I would love the opportunity to stuff ballot boxes in favor of:
- Jim's not having to travel for work. He's in Taiwan this week and next.
- Beautiful weather during the next few days in Taiwan's "magnificent and splendid" Taroko Gorge. We rendezvous there tonight.
- Maggie's living long enough that I get to give her just one more hug.
