I am not a political pundit, yet I try to keep myself informed and here’s why you should too?

An open letter to everyone from my generation, I am an 80’s kid , born and brought up in faraway land of Himalayas- my mighty Nepal and here I am today pouring down my thoughts as to why I choose to be well informed about American politics and why should you as well? While growing up, I often heard one of my cousins say that Politics is 'filth or dirt and I simply had to take a pick’, so for all my teenage years my recollection of being politically inclined was just that. It was either filth or dirt or even better both, that’s how I convinced myself and as any teenager would,I didn’t put much thought into it at all! After all who cares about mundane entity such as ‘Politics’ when there are so many appealing things out there to ponder about and to rejoice? That was soon going to change with time. One fine day almost a decade ago, after traveling thousands of miles, I came to the United States in my quest of finding myself and to seek for better opportunities. My interest in politics piqued after studying Political Science as my electives courses to graduate. I found Political Science so intriguing and equally endearing that, I ended up reading up so much on the founding fathers. Oh By the way, it so happens that Benjamin Franklin is my role model, since his life story of rising from a penny pincher to a great man is just commendable and resonates with me in so many different levels , for me to be able to contain it in mere words. From the colonization to civil war to the liberty that United States is able to exercise on modern day, I studied about it all and for a single second it didn’t seem like a boring thing to do at all. It taught me about great men and their even greater accomplishments like the founding fathers. It taught me about fearless women and their fight to be heard, to be noticed such as Rosa Parks and all the suffragists;. It also taught me about the racial war and the struggle of everyone involved to survive and to sustain such as Martin Luther King Jr. It taught me about the political divide in this country. It gave me a perspective about liberalism and conservatism. It gave me a choice to decide for myself if I leaned more toward left or the right. It helped me expand my horizon as to what do I believe in and what am I akin of. It taught me that I had a choice to choose and such liberty shouldn’t go to waste. So that’s how I gradually was inclined towards politics , and even though I still don’t know all the ins and outs of politics, I choose to address the pressing question here! The question or should I say the answer itself lies in the fact that, I at least try to be acquainted about political happenings around me. If I don’t want to consume or support Monsanto products, If I want to be owner of my own body, if I want to have free education , if I want my parents to have affordable healthcare, if I want stricter gun regulations, if I want my personal information to be just mine, if I want my friends to be able to live in United States with dignity , moreover if I want life, liberty and pursuit of happiness then it falls upon my shoulder to do my homework and choose a candidate which I believe will do greater good to my community and people around me. It is my rightful duty to be informed and to be stern about my choices. I can’t expect things to be fixed overnight if I am not willing to participate in deciding the fate of the nation I live in. I choose to be informed about politics because I want to make sound decisions on my behalf. I don’t want to align myself to a person or a party just because my parents,families or friends said so. It isn’t a petty matter. American politics is the pinnacle of world politics and it will make a difference to the world economy in more ways then I could imagine or comprehend so I want to play my part and so should you! Politics might be filth and dirt as my cousin once said, but guess what ? -it falls upon you and me to get rid of the filth and dirt from our living space if we were to breathe in fresh air. It isn’t your burden but your choice and responsibility. Embark in this journey because with your decision and innumerable others’ , that share same vision as yours the candidate you are rooting for just might be the victor which means your agendas are one step closer from being met. There will be obstacles and disappointments down the road but on the brighter side, you get to be the part of this process over and over again and you get to choose a better candidate next time around. It is your privilege and right so exercise it. On that note, I would like to ask all the youths of today to try and understand as to why politics is too invincible to be able to contain it with ignorance, for ignorance doesn’t prevail. Let us join forces with the best of our abilities, to think , to read, and to choose what we truly believe in. After all, Politics might not be instilled on us upon birth yet Politics governs everyone’s life thereafter. ~ Dedicated to corrigible youth of today!