Events From When I was Twelve

     I turned twelve in 2004. Which was an election year. Almost everyone in our school was excited about the ideals of democracy, and the hope that the future would not appear quite as dark as it seemed from what I could pick out from what the adults were saying during the election campaign. Although my memory of that year might be slightly affected by the numerous negative campaign ads that were -and still are- prevalent during election years. That was also the first year I ever payed attention to politics. It did not exactly give a good impression of the state of politics in the United States.
     With all of the election coverage, there was quite a bit of concern about what was happening in the Middle East, with pictures of the prisoner abuse in Abu Ghraib coming to light, and the New York Times saying that it had failed in the quality of its journalism by not questioning its sources about the Weapons of Mass Destruction that were rumored to have existed. Also related to the potential existence of Weapons of Mass Destruction, the United States lifted sanctions on Libya, which had been in place for 18 years for cooperating. But the Middle East has a long  history, which can not be summoned up simply or quickly. And to this day there is still unrest there.
    In 2004, the Republic of Ireland was the first country in the world to ban smoking in all work places. That included bars and resturants. That issue came to the United States, and the issue seemed to be about how far the government could try and protect people's health from their own habits. Which seem to be an ongoing  debate.
    Back to the elections of 2004, Bush was reelected, and eleven states banned gay marriage. And still eight years later, we are still not done with that issue. I think that I was a lot more optimistic when I was twelve about how people would be nicer once they were older. But there was a sense that no matter what, getting out and voting was a very important thing to do, and how it was a person's civic duty to vote once they were able to. The sense that I need to vote has stayed with me, even though now there are plenty of people who are willing to say that voting does not accomplish anything.