I’m still haunted by that very quick conversation with the emigré… You don’t know what hard is…. You don’t know.

I’ve seen a lot and, yet, I believe him. Because I’ve heard stories filled with pain about things we cannot comprehend. And we live in a country where a lot is wrong, and still, we don’t know.

And I work hard at helping us see those things that are wrong, I look hard at myself and my great, great privilege. And I’m sure I miss plenty.

But I think we who search for the wrong, get so earnest that we forget to celebrate the right… and lavishly… We forget to let people know that life is grand and everyone should have access to the grand things…

We forget our rights (privileges) and we forget our responsibilities. They expected less than 30 percent of registered voters to turn out. Less than 30 percent. And this was the only sentence I could find about how many citizens are registered to vote. “Among eligible voters, some 30 percent of African Americans, 40 percent of Hispanics, 45 percent of Asian Americans, and 41 percent of young adults (age 18-24), were not registered to vote in the historic 2008 election.”

So I found this conversation enraging. Wanna be an american and be all up in my face. Vote, dammit. Peace doesn’t make it self. We do. So let’s do it.