Step Up and Vote: A Civic Duty Worth Honoring

Please do not forget. Whether you consider yourself purposeful, tired of the world, or both; whether you aim to be other-regarding, “far from the madding crowd,” or in between; whether you are a loner, father, mother, son, daughter, sister, or brother, job one is stepping up. What does that mean?

Let’s start very personal, then work outward. Stepping up in a personal way means to look after yourself, be the best you can be, cut no corners, give yourself a personal code, and then follow it.

Many years ago, I recall a pastor talking about the Golden Rule. I thought I had heard it a hundred times, thought I knew where he was going, so I was only half paying attention. He awoke me.

The Golden Rule comes from that biblical injunction to “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18). We hear it a lot, in appeals to help others, give what we can while we can, treat others as we would want to be treated, and always be alert for that chance to lift someone in need. We get that.

What I had missed – until that day, when a patient pastor awoke me to it – was the second part of the famous injunction, which must be first. To give your best to others, to “love your neighbor as yourself,” you must first understand, value, work on, strive to improve, and truly love yourself.

You cannot convey to another what you do not have in your own heart; you cannot be the best for others unless you understand what that is, are prepared to work for it, take responsibility, step up, be it.

From there, we have the circle right around us – those who may need a listening ear, a word of encouragement, help spiritually, emotionally, materially to get on track, which lifts us. That group is predictable, often overlooked because we know them, think they will always be there. Maybe not.

Moving outward again, we meet another collection of humanity, those who – by divine intervention or otherwise – just cross our path. They do. They come before us by surprise, often awkwardly. They may not ask a thing, but appear there in our midst, in one fast-moving, vital moment, and need us.

Stepping up for this group – for one lone soul – is as important as anything we may do, because one encounter, lest we forget it, can change a life, often does. So, all these are ways we need to remind ourselves to take the time and step up, be our best, best for the intimate circle, best for every circle.

But there is one more way, in this exact moment, we should consider stepping up; we are obligated to. More than 250 years ago, 25,000 Americans stepped up – and died for what became our freedom. Other Americans, all now gone, did that in war and peace after them, including 16 million in WWII, of whom 450,000 never came home. They would all want us to step up now. Do you know how?

They would want us to go vote. They would want us to show we appreciate what they did, what they gave, this extraordinary thing we call a “free republic,” one where we read, write, and speak without being killed for it.

What then would they ask us to do, in this exact moment, to preserve what they fought and died for? They would ask us to go vote. That is it, right there – the easiest way we can be equal to this time, do what is expected of us, love the future as ourselves – just vote. Please do not forget.