The cold weather rolls around I get ready for my first ever election; the date is October 28th 2020. My 18th birthday is today. I think of the freedom I’ve been given, of what my future holds. Thinking of the brass flying through the air as my country is being fought for. Imagining being in the field with my brothers leaving what I know and love to keep the youth and my country alive. I have a choice to make, that choice and freedom being my vote, my opinions, and my input. 

I fight hoping to change the world I will come home to, seeing my friends fall in front of me, I think of my family. Knowing that what I’m doing away from home will keep them safe gives me hope and a sense of pride. I think of how I left my country hoping my fighting has changed my families life for the better. I tear up as I read letters from my mother thanking me, she tells me she is proud of me. I return home for the first time in four years only to come home to another election. I realize I no longer see my country the same as when I left; Desperation covers faces as I walk the streets of my home town, the struggle is no longer in my home. I believe my fighting and freedom has changed nothing, I find my family struggling in debt from college tuitions.

My vote created a struggle for my family and growth for others. Taking what I’ve learned I head to the polls to cast my vote, thinking of the future I choose believing I will choose happiness and hope for my family.