Wasim from Kotori put into words almost perfectly what I feel about this election as well. Please take a moment to read what he has to say. The importance of this election cannot be emphasized enough. Thank you.
-Shepard

Extremely Important Message from the Editor In Chief of Kotori Magazine

OK, I just had to post these thoughts. I could no longer sit back and ‘wait to see what happens’ without chiming in. After all, I run a magazine here and goddamnit I’m going to take advantage of it.

This has gone on way too long and the fight is getting way too nasty. Nasty enough to where we’re at the point where we’re mired in the middle of exactly what we’re trying to fight against…the unhealthy and anti-productive politicking that has dominated every aspect of this country and its citizens lives. So rather than spend any more valuable keyboard strokes on the anti-productive and destructive ego-driven infighting in the Democratic race for nomination, I will focus on the ideals surrounding this historic opportunity.

We are at a pivotal point that will dictate the infinite history of this country and its relation and existence in the world, and probably most important to most Americans…it is a point that will dictate the rest of our personal lives. It is something that will live with us, in our homes, in our cars, in our offices, in our pocketbooks, in our neighborhoods, in our hospitals, our roads, our food, our water, our relationships, and most importantly, our children’s futures, for decades and decades to come, just as the politics set up through the 80s which have been with us ever since.

And look at where those have put us.
Look at how far reaching a single election and choice can extend.

But now, it is up to us to decide, in the next 6 months, what we want the makeup of those decades to be. The old style, the old views, the old methods are tired and dying, and in some ways, we have George Bush to thank. Actually, we owe much gratitude to the Bush administration and the culprits behind his rise. Not only did this country finally wake the fuck up and realize what a mess we’ve become because of him and his predecessors’ policies, but if it wasn’t for the current administration, Al Gore would never have been able to make the strides that he has in terms of the environment and awareness for an issue that threatens us even worse than terrorism (not to mention winning the Nobel Peace Prize and spurring billions of dollars of investment into sustainable practices and industry, effectively setting up the foundation of a future infrastructure propelled by it). And perhaps, at this point in time, most importantly, if it wasn’t for the Bush administration, there’s no way in hell that the front runners for leader of the free world would be

a woman
and
a black man.

Now don’t get me wrong. Yes, I would vote for Hillary Clinton if she were the nominee come November. No question. No shame. I was ready to vote for her long before Obama ever broke out from below the radar. But once he came out of the shadows and into the light, thoughts that have never before really been concrete and possible started swirling through this simple lil’ brain of mine.

And that’s when I realized it…only because I’ve never felt it before: the difference.

There’s a difference in the vote I’d be casting for Hillary and the vote I’d be casting for Obama, and while that difference may just seem like a punch card chad, it goes much deeper than that. A vote for Hillary Clinton would simply be a vote against John McCain and the Republican party. Something I’ve been used to doing my entire voting and adult life. Certainly worth it. No doubt about it.

But then I realized…
a vote for Obama…
well…
would be a vote for Obama.

A man like this only comes around once a generation…if we’re lucky. A magnetic personality that has been able to inspire an entire new generation of voters, as well as excite children in record numbers that are not even yet of voting age about the possibilities of public service…basically, our senators, our congressmen, mayors, city council-persons, for the next 30-50 years. A man who has not been afraid to face the critical and controversial issues that we’ve been trying to sweep under the rug as a nation for decades, and, in many cases, centuries. Instead, he has faced them head on. A man who can truly take us out of our terrible two’s and into adulthood based upon the lessons and experiences we’ve learned growing up in the past 232 years. For the first time, I feel it necessary to vote with my conscience, my gut, and my feelings, rather than my ‘common sense.’

The simple fact that he’s here and is in the position that he’s in, and puts us in the position that we’re in, means that…despite all the bullshit that has gone on, especially in the past 8 years of the Bush Administration, WE ARE LUCKY.

But just as willing as we are to embrace that luck,
it’s just as easy to piss it all away.

Now human nature seems to dictate that when something so unbelievably good comes around, something that we only see once in a lifetime shows up at our door, our initial instinct is too often to shun…simply because we’re not used to it. We don’t know it. No matter how amazing, we still may resist. It’s out of our imaginary ‘comfort’ zone. Kind of like…err…love. An amazing friend once told me, “this is a feeling that only comes around once or twice in your life. Why fight it?”

I fought it…and have regretted it ever since.

I love my country. Although I hate and abhor some of the things it has done and continues to do, I do…I love my country. Yet even more importantly than that, and undoubtedly more patriotic than simply loving my country, I love what our country still has the opportunity to be…everything we’ve ever dreamed for it to become.

We have a chance and an opportunity here that may never ever come again. An opportunity that can revolutionize this country and modern humankind as we know it. An opportunity to show the citizens of this country and the citizens of planet earth that, no matter how dark, how dismal, how fucked up things can get…there’s always…ALWAYS…hope. You just have to seize the moment…seize the opportunity… take a chance.

Now.

Ask yourself.

Are you really ready to miss this chance?

I’m not. For I live in fear of regretting it yet again.

Peace,

Wasim Muklashy / Editor-In-Chief / Kotori Magazine

www.kotorimag.com