Charlie Walter is a writer (B.A. in Creative Writing at Hope College in Holland, Mich.), a certified nursing assistant, a farmer, adventure seeker, and storyteller. He currently lives in Waco, Texas and cheers for the Dallas Cowboys when they aren't playing the Detroit Lions. 

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Civic Duty: What Can I Do Now?

by Charlie Walter 11-13-2012
Photo: Grocery shopping, Kzenon / Shutterstock.com

Photo: Grocery shopping, Kzenon / Shutterstock.com

This starts as a question: What can I do now, as a citizen?

On Nov. 6, the answer was clear. Vote. Vote. Vote.

Well and done. Four years ago, too, I voted in November on Election Day, with a box of Fruity Cheerios under one arm.

In the weeks leading up to the election, my civic heart was tuned well. Watch the debates. Discuss. Then vote, because, actually, the pressure is quite enormous. Vote or Die. The Facebook news feed can crush you, flatten you into voting, which is all well and good. I can be for that. Civic pressure.

But come Nov. 7, the pressure released. The civic duty was fulfilled. And my question remains, sincerely. What can I do now?

I ask the question; one, because I do not know the answer; two, because I have an entirely different answer. So first, the question stands: What can I do now, as a citizen?