‘There’s a first time for everything’, - wrote Allen Hamilton 200 hundred years ago. The first time my article was published in a newspaper, the first time I touched strings of an acoustic guitar, the first time <…>. I remember everything very well. First times impressions stays in our minds for long.
37 days and I’ll face with another first - my first EP elections. I am 19 years old - young and full of enthusiasm Lithuanian and European citizen. On the 7th of June I’ll get my chance to prove that I care about EU, by voting for one of the candidates to EP.
But sometimes I catch myself thinking: ‘Does a right to vote really means much for us?’.
For the hundreds and hundreds of years countries didn’t have democratic system; such organizations as European Union didn’t exist. It seems that now, when we do not live in dark ages, people should take care about the values of democracy. But what I see in my own country and, I guess, in the whole EU, most of us decide not to bother. Paradox? No. Only humanity at it’s flip-side.
I have an idealistic vision of how can elections - not only to EP but also to the local Parliament, President - look like. Voting day can be like a celebration to everyone. People would celebrate freedom to choose, an ability to put their vote for the person they believe in. Those who voted for the first time would celebrate the most because they opened the new page of their life: now they are full-fledged citizens, the ones who care.
But what I see ine reality is mostly passivity. Voting for EP is not considered as something huge - it’s just a charge that you can whether take a responsibility for or ignore it. I will join the first side and celebratemy first voting. Without any fiestas - everything’s only in my mind. Because I am European Citizen, am I?
(9 votes, average: 3.89 out of 5)
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