Knowing I helped make history is a really cool feeling. On November 6, 2012, with the reelection of Barack Obama as president of the United States of America, we all made history. It’s crazy to think how close the election was and how every vote really did count.
I have a TV in my apartment, but when I heard about the event going on at the Tutor Campus Center I went over with a couple friends in order to watch on the biggest television screen I have ever seen and to be with others just as excited as we were.
I clapped and cheered with each win of a state, groaned with each loss, and forgot how to breathe every time my state came up on the big screen. I sent in an absentee ballot in mid-October since I am registered to vote in Florida. Not only am I a member of a swing state, but I also come from one of the biggest swing counties in Florida: Hillsborough. The tally of votes kept going back and forth, often with only a few thousand separating the two men; I kept thinking, Wow, my vote really did count!
Watching the candidate I chose rise and fall as each state’s winner was determined over the course of a few hours was thrilling and gut wrenching at the same time. I was especially enthralled as I watched alongside and chatted with other students, faculty, and staff. Staring at the screen and eating the free hotdog I got from Seeds for attending the event, I shivered in the front row as the night went on, though I can’t really say if it was from cold or from nervousness.
The atmosphere was tense, not with hatred toward “the other guy”, but rather with hope and excitement to see what the outcome would be. It was so awesome to be part of the group at TCC. Instead of ugly fights breaking out between members of each party, I was pleasantly surprised to find that everyone was able to watch peacefully and respectfully. Of course a few jokes were cracked at the expense of both sides, but the overall feeling I got from everyone was an excited energy rather than a hateful malice. Not only did we get free food, personalized political caricatures, and photo ops with cardboard cutouts of the candidates but also we got the chance to prove that it is pos
sible for two highly opposing sides to harmoniously coexist.
It made me feel like I was a part of something, and it showed that although many of us have contradictory views, it is possible to get along with and be respectful of others; it is possible to come together in peace to create history. Though two parties separated us, our love for our nation united us.