After our T-ball practice got rained on this evening, I performed my civic duty and ran to the local elementary school to vote. I had my 5 year old son with me so of course, I had to explain that voting as “picking the people that you like”. Feeling like a great dad for letting my boy see the whole process (including standing in the booth with me while I made my selections), we gladly accepted our “I Voted Today” stickers like badges of honor.
Then came the best line I have heard in a while. I don’t know if it’s funny or a sad statement about society. As we were walking out of the school I said “see that didn’t take long” and he replied “but I thought you had to sing”. At first I didn’t put it together. Than, I realized that he has seen way too many episodes of American Idol. I guess he thought I was going to go in and hammer out some Stevie Wonder tune and 3 people would tell me how well I did. Then everyone would text message, or call ATT to let me know if I could stick around for another week.
Luckily, that was not the case. It is clear to me that I need to better explain the democratic process. Out of the mouths of babes…..”I thought you had to sing”…
AARON CONRAD 