I can't help but relate to the 40 Year Old Virgin, as I myself am 42 and for whatever reason (I have no good explanation for it), THIS year is the VERY FIRST TIME politics has ever attracted my interest. It's almost like I've just now hit political puberty or something (I mean, I KNEW that changes were taking place inside of me but I was confused about them and didn't know what they meant!). Every single election year, I've turned away from anything political, not caring about who won, not believing I really had anything to say about it anyway, and utterly abhorring anything that reeked of arse kissing or mud slinging. I've just flat out never cared and considered those who did get caught up in the waves as "one of the herd" who mindlessly followed around their favorite animal banner (ass or elephant).

 But this year, it's different. I don't think I have really changed all that much...I still see the multitudes as members of a herd, I still believe that I'm fairly insignificant in the grand scheme of things. But what I believe may be happening now is that I feel a distinct vibration in the air that this year, this election isn't just going to result in either gas that's a few cents higher or lower; this election feels like a major, major crossroads in the history of civilization to me. Call it intuition, or rather call it an overwhelming sense of foreboding, but I do believe that what happens THIS November 4th is going to be the beginning of major major changes, for good or bad. Knowing this, it scares me. I'm late in the game, but right now I'm trying to catch up on the two opposing sides...get a sense of who they are, what they truly represent, who I can trust. For the first time in my life, I watched a debate on TV because I was truly interested in getting to know these people (Biden/Palin). I heard double talk, I heard honesty, I heard real people, I heard fake people. I heard original thoughts, I heard rehearsed thoughts, I heard stances and viewpoints, and in the entire process of taking it in and digesting it, I was in a constant state of comparing what they said, thought, and believed with what I think and believe. Some of Palin's points I had to give a single handed high five to; some of Biden's points, I did the same. I saw parts of him I could live under, I saw parts of her I could live under. I thought to myself, "why can't THOSE two be running on the same ticket? Then I wouldn't have any question about who to vote for". My good friend compelled me to listen to Obama's acceptance speech, which I did. I related to him in many aspects. My other good friend compelled me to do the same with McCain and again, I could see myself living under the man's government. So in the end, dang it, they ALL have points I totally concur with, and they all have points I totally disagree with. So then, how does a 42 year old virgin go about making the right decision for himself?

I truly believe that the answer begins inside of me first. Before I can ever make a rational, good choice between candidates, I have to know what my OWN beliefs are, know what my OWN philosophy on a given subject is, and most importantly, I have to have those beliefs and philosophies prioritized. Until I do that, I  will always find myself what they call "on the fence". I don't believe that a person is on the fence because all of the candidates are just such good choices; I believe (after seeing this in my own self) that a person is "on the fence" because they have NOT taken the time to first understand their own selves well enough; they've not examined what their OWN beliefs truly are and prioritized them.  Once I did that...listed mentally or otherwise which of my personal beliefs and needs were most important to me, the choice became much, much easier. Since I (and every individual) see the world from my own particular place in it, no candidate is ever going to think exactly like me; but I can choose the one whose top priorities are most aligned with MY top priorities. If I stop spending so much time trying to understand every single thing each candidate believes and stands for and just focus on the ones that matter most to me, it isn't nearly as difficult a task to make a decision. 

As I stated earlier, I feel it...there's something about this election, this time in our history, this place that the world finds itself in that is foreboding and frightening. The world's on the brink of so many things, some amazingly good, some amazingly horrifying. For this reason, and because (though I may be but a single drop in the ocean) my presence, however miniscule, DOES count, I have registered to vote and will do so for the first time in my life this coming November. Feel free to contact me on or off line if you would like to me to share more of my personal political evolution, if you think it might help someone else you know evolve as well and give up their political virginity! 

Thanks for listening.