Elections
Today I voted.
First, there were the road works. Every time there is an election in Belgium, they block all the roads to fix them up so everyone knows how awesome our rulers are. And yet everybody is just annoyed; what is usually a ten-minute drive becomes a 25-minute one, the usual bus stops are moved to streets you've never even heard of and you're just supposed to find them, and if you decide to walk, if you don't slip on the sand caused by the works, it will just be blown into your eyes by the wind. And every election is the same, although our politicians deny this fact.
Then there were the installation of massive wood panels for political party members to display their photos, as if that was going to make you go "oh this guy there looks awesome with his stupid smile, Imma vote for him!" They seriously all look more stupid and fake than the one next to them. All these posters pollute our sight as if our neighbourhoods weren't ugly enough already.
And then, most annoying of all, is the constant flux of flyers through the mailbox. Recycling is compulsory in Brussels, and that's awesome but it also means buying specific government-approved bags so we technically pay to recycle but that's still okay somehow. What is not okay is that the government forces its flyers on you that will end up in the recycling bin that you pay for because of the same government. I have found a solution: giving the flyers back to the volunteers that hand them out, but that essentially involves staying near the mailbox ready to run out.
But despite all of the nuisance elections mean to me, I voted. You're gonna tell me that voting is compulsory in Belgium, it is, but I didn't just vote for that. I vote whenever I find myself in Belgium at the time of an election, because other than being compulsory, it is an important right and public duty at the same time. Our rulers and candidates are so incapable (I'm not saying I could do the job, if I could maybe I'd go for it, but I can't) that it is our duty to vote for the least worst people and if possible the opposition, to get a balance of ideas. In Belgium's case, the least worst are probably the Greens, for whom I voted today.
So many people don't get to vote for their rulers of choice in this world, I'm glad I have this right (or at least the illusion of it).
First, there were the road works. Every time there is an election in Belgium, they block all the roads to fix them up so everyone knows how awesome our rulers are. And yet everybody is just annoyed; what is usually a ten-minute drive becomes a 25-minute one, the usual bus stops are moved to streets you've never even heard of and you're just supposed to find them, and if you decide to walk, if you don't slip on the sand caused by the works, it will just be blown into your eyes by the wind. And every election is the same, although our politicians deny this fact.
Then there were the installation of massive wood panels for political party members to display their photos, as if that was going to make you go "oh this guy there looks awesome with his stupid smile, Imma vote for him!" They seriously all look more stupid and fake than the one next to them. All these posters pollute our sight as if our neighbourhoods weren't ugly enough already.
And then, most annoying of all, is the constant flux of flyers through the mailbox. Recycling is compulsory in Brussels, and that's awesome but it also means buying specific government-approved bags so we technically pay to recycle but that's still okay somehow. What is not okay is that the government forces its flyers on you that will end up in the recycling bin that you pay for because of the same government. I have found a solution: giving the flyers back to the volunteers that hand them out, but that essentially involves staying near the mailbox ready to run out.
But despite all of the nuisance elections mean to me, I voted. You're gonna tell me that voting is compulsory in Belgium, it is, but I didn't just vote for that. I vote whenever I find myself in Belgium at the time of an election, because other than being compulsory, it is an important right and public duty at the same time. Our rulers and candidates are so incapable (I'm not saying I could do the job, if I could maybe I'd go for it, but I can't) that it is our duty to vote for the least worst people and if possible the opposition, to get a balance of ideas. In Belgium's case, the least worst are probably the Greens, for whom I voted today.
So many people don't get to vote for their rulers of choice in this world, I'm glad I have this right (or at least the illusion of it).
Sad fact: "our duty to vote for the least worst people".
ReplyDelete