Voting

In 2020 ideologies are filtered into dichotomies and ultimatums.  Or tweets and statuses if you may.  This is often the case with voting.  Either you vote and believe you're truly making a difference in your bold democratic actions or you don't vote and post on facebook about how no one vote can possibly make a difference and begin rambling about how the military industrial complex keeps us controlled through 5G towers.  What radicals we've become.   

A while back my Linkedin summary somewhat conceitedly read: "As a believer that specialization is solely reserved for insects, I aspire to take advantage of every inclination that sparks a curiosity to my visceral convictions."  At the time I was hoping to catch the eye of a creative CEO or hedge fund manager, but it turns out the summary I wrote was actually turning off underpaid recruiters looking for brass-tacks in college student's stats.  I spent quite a few hours on that quote and since writing it I've looked intrinsically at my own belief structure and asked myself what I hold to be my honest-to-god convictions. A deep philosophical question for a 20 year old male. 

Mark Twain once said "Against the assault of laughter nothing can stand."  Almost everyone has a few convictions that are easy to joke about, which we millennials do quite often via twitter, facebook, instagram, or whatever social media platform you choose to spiel about your political leanings.  When we first realize that some of our own principles are not widely accepted among our peers, or today among our followers on social media, it hurts; it's an intrinsic pain that cuts deep and immediately badgers question to our sanity and reality, however gentle. But in time most of us find that we can laugh at ourselves ironically and maintain those beliefs on the justification that everyone has their own just as odd ideologies and laughable dogmas that they've held onto for years and even embarrassingly pontificated to their friends about but just got funny looks for.  Only those that take themselves too seriously are still questioning their sanity.

The point I'm making is I voted today.  I checked each box on a straight-party primary ticket, and a few of the belief templates that make up the side I chose to vote for I truly believe separate good from evil.  Granted, not every single stem of my belief web has the concrete conviction to make such a profound statement, and many, I'll admit, are ambiguous and paradoxical.  But I've gradually come to find what gives me solace lies in the suppositions that shape the very nucleus of my soul, those beliefs that whenever I see someone on social media criticizing or poking fun at just because it is at the opposite end of the modern dichotomous political spectrum or just happens to have a mild propensity in one direction more than the other, causes a serious physiological response in my limbic system.  Those are the posts I live for because, quite honestly, if you don't experience thought provoking posts regularly in today's overly dopamine-fueled frenzy, quite honestly your convictions are worthless.

So next time you think about voting a few good questions might be:  What beliefs will you truly die for? What beliefs incur mild cognitive dissonance on your social media feed or in discussions?   What's the difference between those convictions?  What belief sparks a deep inclination to your viscera that has shaped your persona's evolution since you were a child? Think about that belief.  Now laugh at it because life is short.