Election Day 2020: Magic Once More

I leave to vote while the moon is round and shining in a black sky. The ancient prayers rumble through my mind for my candidate, my country, our world and its future. The parking lot at the polling station is full, it is no slow day.
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I enter the building and everything is coordinated in the intricate ballet that will make the day. The center is fully staffed, clean, bright, organized, efficient, cordial. There is no discord, only a helpful embrace. I complete my ballot, unrushed, seated comfortably, seal and submit, say thank you and take my extra “I voted” sticker.
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On the drive home, the sun rises with a sky streaked in grand pastels. Of course some pink, but this very special morning there is an unmatched peach which has dazzled one half the sky in an incredible wash, and there’s a swathe of yellow, ivory, and gold. Gentle blue is just coming on the edge of the pink.
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I had worn fine jewelry voting, applied a designer perfume, made sure to choose a stylish top, all for this special day and special moment. In the dark morning, dressing quietly so as not to disturb my sleeping husband. But really, after the wait for the day to arrive, my spirit was too drab.
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The stark white moon hardily enchanted me as it should. I was pressed, for so many of my friends had gone another way in the election, decrying the inspirations moving me. The wait had been long, through so much strife, so much mistaken agitation, so much hectoring by loud proponents, so much incessance towards the moment. But the moment comes anew.
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Thus I returned home with an avalanche of gratitude for all of it. I had to sit and think of the magic once more. The ballet of social purpose, the civic act of the vote, and the sacred vote. Men who fought and walked with bloody feet in snow to give me Freedom. My parents who gave my natural born right as American in no less a place than a few short blocks from Lincoln’s home.
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The Morris county officials who arranged for today’s smooth procedures. The workers staffing the polls, volunteers many. The citizens arriving as I had and moving gracefully through the lines, to the tables to read their ballots. The gas station employees commending me for voting as I got coffee on the way home. The sky and the sun for their painting the heavens so gently, so incredibly in soft peach color.
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I had to even thank those voting for the opposition candidate. I think if they did it gently and cordially, as did my fellow citizens this morning, that maybe, maybe I could even thank them and hold them as colleagues in my civic regard. I could even forgive the ones not voting and hope the magic of the vote, the civic union we comprise with it, would awaken in their soul.
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It’s a dignified social dance. Each votes, oh citizen, the vote is counted, the winner wins, and the country, the last, best hope of mankind, again is reborn and renewed. Not to say other countries are not also special and fine in their right.
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My little daughter asks if I have delivered the vote for her companion “Elfy”, her toy, which is not a child but an actual grown-up elf. Dear one, I gave the vote for you, for your future and for the future of all the world’s sweet children. And for my beloved and shining country. Thank you, astonishing America, thank you.
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(Copyright, Natalie R. Gandhi, Nov 3, 2020)
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