In an interview with Jacob Lief, co-founder and co-president of Ubuntu Education Fund, I was inspired by something that he shared:
I’ll tell you the story that changed my life ...
I met this woman in Orlando West in Soweto, one of the most famous townships in South Africa, outside of Johannesburg. Millions of people live there. I met this woman who was eighty-five years old. She had been waiting in line for five days to vote. When I asked her how someone could wait in line for five days to vote, she just smiled at me, tapped me on the shoulder, and said,
“Boy, it’s been eighty-five years, not five days.”
I just remember being there amongst all of those shacks that were people’s homes and it just hit me right then that I don’t think I’d ever really thought about freedom in that context. I could see that I took so much for granted. Right there I made a commitment to myself that I would become part of the new South Africa. I was only seventeen.
Go vote!
Whatever you do, do whatever it takes to get yourself to the polls tomorrow and vote!
Vote because you can. Vote because it matters. Vote because you have the right to.
Vote because once upon a time, somebody fought and somebody died so that you could vote.
Dana
