“Voting Beyond Ourselves” 💚

Voting is often spoken of as an act of self interest. We hear endless discussions about taxes, wages, fuel prices, retirement accounts, and what policies will put more money in our own pockets. Yet I believe the most important question we can ask ourselves on Election Day is not, "What benefits me?" but rather, "What protects us?"

At its best, voting is an act of civic empathy.

When we step into the voting booth, we carry more than our own experiences and concerns. We carry the future of the communities we share. Democracy asks us to think beyond ourselves, beyond our own households, and beyond our immediate interests.

A person without school aged children still benefits from strong public schools because educated communities are safer, healthier, and more prosperous. Someone with excellent health insurance should still care about healthcare access because a healthier population strengthens the entire community. The struggles of a local business owner, a senior citizen living on a fixed income, or a young family searching for affordable housing are not isolated concerns. They are shared realities.

A thriving society cannot function if people care only about themselves.

Something should not have to affect you directly for you to care.

When we shift our thinking from "How does this help me?" to "How does this help my neighbors?" the ballot becomes more than a political tool. It becomes a statement of solidarity. It becomes a promise that we recognize our lives are interconnected.

That belief is deeply rooted in my Christian faith.

Yeshua is my Shepherd and my Teacher. His example shapes how I try to move through this world. Yet even if you do not share my faith, I hope you can meet me for a moment simply as a fellow traveler, another person trying to make sense of a complicated time.

Look around.

Look at the people passing you on the sidewalk.

Look at the cashier ringing up groceries.

Look at the exhausted nurse finishing a twelve hour shift.

Look at the father checking his bank account before filling his gas tank.

Look at the mother wondering how she will stretch one more paycheck.

Look at the veteran carrying memories they rarely speak about.

Look at the widow still reaching for a hand that is no longer there.

Look at the child trying to understand a world that often feels confusing, frightening, and divided.

These are not statistics.

These are not talking points.

These are our neighbors.

These are human beings carrying burdens that many of us will never fully see.

When Christ walked among people, He sought out those society often overlooked. The poor. The weary. The hurting. The outsider. The forgotten. He did not measure human worth by status, success, or power. He recognized dignity where others failed to look.

That lesson continues to shape me.

I am an autistic man. I have known rejection. I have known abuse. I have spent nights wrestling with wounds invisible to everyone around me. Yet kindness found me. Patience found me. Grace found me.

The people who helped me survive did not stop to ask whether I deserved compassion. They simply offered it.

That experience changed me.

It taught me that strength is not found in cruelty. It taught me that fear is not wisdom. It taught me that the measure of our character is how we treat people who are struggling, vulnerable, or different from ourselves.

That is why I vote.

Not because I believe politicians will save us.

They will not.

Not because I believe any political party is perfect.

None are.

I vote because people matter.

I vote because children matter.

I vote because women matter.

I vote because working families matter.

I vote because the elderly matter.

I vote because the poor matter.

I vote because every human being possesses dignity that no government can grant and no government should take away.

For that reason, I am supporting Rob Sand and Josh Turek. I am voting blue because I believe those choices best reflect my convictions and my hopes for the future.

I am voting for my partner.

I am voting for my sons.

I am voting for my daughter.

But if I am being completely honest, I am voting for your family too...

I want your children to inherit a kinder world than the one we were given. I want them to know opportunity. I want them to know safety. I want them to know dignity. I want them to know that when difficult moments arrived, the people before them chose compassion over fear.

Regardless of who receives your vote, I ask only this...

Think about the people with the least power.

Think about the people carrying burdens you cannot see.

Think about the neighbors whose struggles may never directly touch your own life.

Then vote.

Not out of anger.

Not out of fear.

Not out of hatred.

Vote out of love.

Because long after the campaign signs disappear, long after the advertisements stop running, and long after politicians move on to the next election, we will still have one another.

In the end, our communities rise or fall together.

That has always been worth fighting for.

Joshua Mills, a humble man,

from Ames, Iowa.

(Aka)💚JoshM, The Masked Poet