A & E

Two weeks ago, I reflected on the fact that so many young people have been extremely involved in the election season. For the past few months, I've seen teenagers and twenty-somethings sitting behind folding tables and handing out pamphlets, encouraging both their peers and older adults to exercise the right to vote. I'm proud of my generation for this effort, and hope that the message has been heard -- no matter who you support, vote!

Today we pick the next president of this great country. Today, regardless of which ticket wins, our country will make history. Today (thank goodness) these ridiculous campaign ads can come to an end. Which brings me to my next point: today, leave the politics at the polling place.

Emotions have been running high as our friends, family members, and fellow citizens debate the merits of each candidate for president. Recently, I read a Newsweek article about mothers and young daughters who had chosen to support different candidates. Each relative talked about being frustrated with and sometimes horrified by the other's choice. "How can she possibly think that way?" was a common sentiment for each of the parent-offspring pairs. The author, Melissa Dahl, observed that insults to preferred candidates can feel like personal attacks.

Although my mother and I are voting for the same candidate, the article still hit close to home. My fiance and I discovered early on that we were not supporting the same man for the job. As a result, we spent the next several months trying to change the other's vote. Although at first the conversations were stimulating, it quickly became clear that we were set in our ways. And then our debates became more frustrating than fun. He didn't like my decision, and I couldn't understand his, so talking politics was tough. Like the mother-daughter duos discussed in the article, I often found myself wondering -- "how can he possibly think that way?"

I wasn't alone. A close friend of mine, whose car is plastered with political bumper stickers, is dating a guy who works for the opposing party's campaign. "We have to agree to disagree," she told me. But she admitted that it wasn't always easy. Another friend who had disagreements with her sister, her boyfriend and many friends, directed me to a CNN article entitled "When Your Mate is Your Political Enemy," a piece that offered 10 tips on "making it to November 4 without the taser gun." I laughed when I read that one, but quickly printed out the article.

I think that many people, young and old, have placed a lot of emphasis on today's election. In some senses, that's a good thing. It's great, as I mentioned earlier, that young people are working so hard to get others to the polls. But on the other hand, the election should not be an end-all, be-all, knock-down, drag-out fight that determines our identities as people and defines our relationships with others. Young voters, especially, are just learning this lesson now.

As teenagers, or twenty-somethings, we haven't had many opportunities to interact with friends and family on a political level. As an example, this is only the second time I've voted in a presidential election, and my little sister recently sent in an absentee ballot to cast her first-ever presidential vote. New voters, are learning that it's one thing to talk politics, and another to let the conversations get personal. And judging from the articles I've read, it's a lesson that many older adults need to remember, as well.

No matter who wins this election, our loved ones will still be our loved ones. When we wake up tomorrow with a new president-elect, we will still have the same family and friends. It's an important election -- but at the same time, it's just an election.

To voters, young and old, on this great election day: please vote. But leave the politics at the polls.

Megan Bode of Upper St. Clair is a second-year law student at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

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