The Longest Line

Saturday, I woke up with a mind to vote. Voting early seems to be the “in” thing now in Florida… and after my long wait in line, early voting is a good damn idea!

The elements definitely worked in my favor. The temperature was a nice, non-humid-pleasant-breeze 70-something degrees at its warmest. Just days before, Floridians suffered from sweltering temperatures of high 80’s and 90 degrees.

But my first view of the line was when I was in slow traffic pulling into the area of parking lots and recreational centers and fast food joints around the hosting library. I continued to move ahead; determined to have my energies intertwined with the paradigm shift of an historical event and a new sense of hopefulness in our society. I parked my car, thinking it strategic to my ultimate destination. And I walked to the library entrance with a stoicism that probably far exaggerated my individual importance. But this event IS important.

I walked around the corner and saw at least 2 hours waiting worth of people snaked through the driveway area and into the wooded lot next to the library. Although, I didn’t physically stop, my mind came to a screeching halt! I thought that I was out of my mind for walking ahead toward the back… (Where was the back?!)… the back of the line! I know darned well, I can vote another day. It’s too nice out here to spend the time that was unavoidably necessary, in a line outside of a library on a cool, breezy, Saturday.

I don’t know if you all believe in any type of negative spirits, and I certainly don’t, but doubt entered my brain, because SURELY this was the devil talking to me! DELAY my opportunity and right to vote because it was too nice outside?! This weather was a blessing for the long wait I had ahead of me.

I got in line. Made some phone calls. I had to let folks know how incredible this line was! I was really in awe of it… AND the fact that so many people (besides me) were willing to wait! After the dust settled on my incredulity, I just looked around. I listened to a few people in front of me chatting benignly about … you guessed it – the weather. It’s like everyone was hesitant to discuss the main thing that had drawn them to this location. A voting site volunteer gave us all a heads up on a voting location that was getting the voters in and out with much less wait. He even offered additional encouragement, by letting us know that shuttles had actually come to pick up the voters from our chosen site to go and vote at this other site earlier in the week.

Secretly, I hoped that half the line would go for it so that I could move up quickly. It was apparent that it wasn’t much of a secret when a fellow voter of Jamaican decent shouted out, “Tell those people down there, so we can move up faster!” Our end of the line laughed in unison, because we were obviously sharing the same thoughts. A few people were willing to give it a go, but not too many.

That was about the time, an African-American couple ahead of me and a Latino gentleman, started discussing the obvious in a not-so-obvious way. They talked about the amendments that were going to be on the ballot. The Jamaican and I got in on the conversation and finally, so did the African-American English teacher who was behind me.

We talked about the significance (or lack there-of) of same sex marriages becoming an uncontestable part of the constitution and the financial impact that a “yes” or “no” decision would have on society and economy. We discussed whether or not the most immediate and legally correct action in regards to illegal aliens who have lucrative American businesses, would be to just send them all packing or find an alternative method in working them into our system… legally – and what type of financial impact these decisions would have. We discussed the variance in proposed tax structures of real estate property based on its usage.

Finally, we discussed our economy, our political nominees and the current events surrounding them. We all found out that we had so much in common in regards to this season of politics. We all confessed that this was a rarely discussed topic and it was a relief to know that we could discuss it with strangers without some of the absurd reactions of violence that the news has been reporting lately. By the time we’d reached our 2nd hour (still outside of our appointed destination), we were very satisfied with our choice to remain in line and the chance we took in getting to know each other. The camaraderie added so much to the experience that we were having and the memory that we were creating. THIS truly was a spiritual experience!

After I got home, I called my Sister-friend in South Carolina to tell her about my day. I spoke of my 3 Hour wait. I made her laugh at how, by the time I had grandchilren old enough to kind of "get it", I would be exaggerating my wait-time to 10-12 hours instead of 3… all to create this new world for my bratty, ungrateful, grand-brats! Although I made her laugh, my laughter ceased when she said, “you think 10-12 hours is a long time? Girl, we’ve been waiting for over 400 years!”

Think about that.

"We've been waiting in line for over 400 years."

‘Nuff said!