Personal essays
Take one consideration with another
Voting
Yesterday morning, I filled out my ballot, drove it down to the Cuyahoga County Board of Elections, and placed it in the drop box.
I love voting.
I’ve participated in every election I’ve been eligible for since I turned 18 in 1977. I’ve been voting in Cuyahoga County since 1982 when I moved back after college and a year teaching in New England.
I know that voting is one of the duties of being a citizen - but I don’t do it out of obligation. I vote because I love helping to shape the future of Ohio and our country.
And that’s how I began my statement in my Vote Forward letter.
Sure, I also feel a sense of duty. It’s the responsibility of each of us to express ourselves with our vote, but this isn’t one of those Gilbert and Sullivan shows about duty.
“Which one?” you ask.
All I hear in response is the refrain from the West Wing episode, “they’re all about duty.”
Except, it turns out, some more than others.
Penzance
In between my time in Logroño at NSSpain and in London for Server Side Swift, I thought I would stop on the way in Cornwall, on the southern coast of England.
Except, you can’t stop on the way. You have to overshoot your mark and go all the way to London and then take a five hour train back.
I’ve already told you about that journey which brought me to Penzance well after midnight.
“Penzance,” you say, “as in the Pirates of?”
Indeed.
Although there aren’t really any pirates there.
There is the Admiral Benbow Inn which you might remember from Treasure Island. But no real pirates.
The musical was written in 1879 - there were no pirates in Penzance even then.
But what there is in Penzance - or at least fairly near by - is the beautiful Minack theatre built into the cliffs above the ocean.
I had four things I wanted to do on my visit to Cornwall: see a show in the Minack theatre, visit St. Michaels Mount, enjoy an authentic pasty, and find some fresh sea food.
For item one, there was a show playing at the Minack theatre and I was able to get a ticket for the Saturday matinee.
The show was a bit on the nose - it was “The Pirates of Penzance” put on by students from Cambridge University.
The show is subtitled: “The Slave of Duty”.
Promises
The story begins with, Frederic, our hero recounting the tale of how he was apprenticed to a pirate and not a pilot because his nanny was hard of hearing and mistook her instructions.
“That’s ridiculous,” you say.
I’ll bet you can find things that are way more ridiculous in the news today.
Anyway, later in the day Frederic will be completing his 21st year and so will be released from his duty.
He remarks that he’s noticed a weakness the pirates have and they remind him that he is obligated to them until later that day. So he tells them.
“Oh, come on,” you say.
Oh, wait. This is Gilbert and Sullivan so there’s a twist. It turns out, the contract specifies that Frederic has to serve until his 21st birthday and he’s born on February 29th of a leap year so he’s only a quarter of the way in to his obligation.
Every once in a while I step back and remember that the title of this newsletter is “Keep two thoughts”.
In this case I think, on the one hand, this duty thing is completely crazy. I mean, what are the chances of being born on the 29th of February in a leap year?
But then there’s the other hand. I think of how many things I’ve done and do out of a sense of duty.
I promised I would. Even though the situation has changed and I thought pilot but apparently said pirate.
I just don’t have the time or energy and this project I’ve committed to has changed from a 21st year thing to a 21st birthday thing.
And yet, I promised.
So I try not to do things out of duty.
If I say I’ll meet you, it’s because I want to.
If I promise to write 200 Vote Forward letters it’s to help elect people who care about the safety of me and my daughter.
That’s not just a small thing. Our safety includes securing everything from our planet to our democracy, from our economy to our freedom, in short, our future.
And so I vote, not out of duty, but because I love to and I love that I’m still able to.
Essay from Dim Sum Thinking Newsletter 238. Read the rest of the Newsletter or subscribe