Why should he care?
As America’s voice echoed throughout the night on Nov. 4, a man took center stage as the new President elect.
Chicagoans rejoiced, foreigners rejoiced and yet some others were saddened. President elect Obama is a great man, but he can’t please everybody. And my roommate unfortunately happens to fall into that everyone else category.
I woke up this morning exhausted yet still showing the same smile I had when I crashed on my bed at 2:30a.m. My roommate, already getting ready for his class at Columbia, casually asked how the rally was last night.
Immediately I whip out my phone, show him pictures, tell him the story of the Canadian, the Brit and the massive crowd. But to my dismay, not a sign of excitement crossed his face.
“I honesty don’t care”
…
What?
To his own words, he does not care because he has lost all hope in the country. Feeling like he was forced to vote by peer pressure, his views on the election went downhill because he knew Obama would win, but felt that even then, nothing would change.
For 45 min, my roommate and I were in a small debate on the importance of this election and what it means for America in the world’s grand scheme.
“I just don’t care about politics. Nothing in America has changed and I don’t think our government works anymore … I just don’t have any hope left for America. Once I have enough money, I am moving out of country.”
How?
In the wake of a new four years ahead of us, he has no optimism about the future of a country that is built on ideals for human rights. True our government has swayed away from that vision that was built over 200 years ago, but with a new President of the United States, a historic one at that, should give rise to a new hope that things might get better.
The roommate claims that I have just bought into false hope, and into political lies. But I disagree. He did not feel the emotional response last night or the reactions in the rest of the world. I just don’t understand how someone can’t care about the future of their own government-that he helped create.
