Zure-Ike #07 'Vectors, Elections, and the Direction I Stand In'

Y-kun doesn't have the right to vote yet.
But I tried talking a little about the meaning of going to vote. I said, 'Only by casting a vote can you truly offer a critique.'
I try directing those words toward myself as well.

The place where I stand feels unsteady.
Even so, there is a part of me that thinks,
'I want to stand on this side.'

Voting is a kind of vector.
With intent, which direction are you heading? —
Even while feeling out of sync, I thought about the reasons
to head to the polls today.

'Y-kun, you know, today is election day.'

'Huh, that's nice. I can't go yet, so...'
'But, I have thought about the meaning of going. For example, I feel like you can only critique something once you've cast a vote...'

—Y-kun is still a high school student.
He doesn't have the right to vote.
But because he said that with such straightforward eyes, I felt a little shaken inside.

'Yeah. That's certainly true.'
'Complaining without casting a vote feels like complaining about the rules of a game you aren't even participating in, doesn't it?'

As I said that, I felt my own posture being corrected.

That is precisely why I think this.
For the sake of those who find it difficult to go to the polls themselves, we must properly establish an 'environment' where they can express their will.

...Hmm?
I used the word 'environment' yesterday, too, didn't I?

If I recall, it was an environment as 'conditions for someone to be able to live.'
Today, it's an environment as 'conditions for anyone to be able to raise their voice.'

Though the forms are different, the roots are probably the same.

🛸Yesterday's Log | Zure-Ike #06 'Once you've said it, you can't go back (maybe)' 👇️
https://note.com/lucky_whale857/n/ne963b179c5a1

For instance, there are things like regional issues, right?

In my area, it's—
Regional revitalization. An aging population.
And then, what to do with all those public facilities that were built in excess.

For those kinds of vague issues that are a bit hard to handle, perhaps it is the job of a local representative to point out a vector, saying, 'Shall we think about it in this direction?'

And we, in turn, choose whether to get on board with that direction, show that we are looking at it from a slightly different angle, or perhaps choose to 'remain a bystander this time.'

Each one is a different orientation.
Each one is proof that we 'exist.'

Today is election day.
I have already finished mine.

I haven't found the answer to how I should live, but I might at least be able to say which way I'm facing.

Where are you facing?

🌟Currently, with the motto "Go ahead, even if you're out of sync,"
while feeling a quiet breeze... I am plotting a path of coexistence.
Alien Mishima.