I never gave much thought to politics. Never gave much time to it, and never voted. I never really cared. But then I heard about this Government Shutdown, which would mean anyone who earns a government based income would no longer get it. They would be laid off. I still didn’t really care, why should I? It was a rude awakening when I found out that the government shutdown affected me, too.

My parents are hard working people, who do what it takes to survive. My Mom worked two jobs 24/7; she was a cashier at Wal-Mart from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. By night she was an Emergency Room Registrar from 9 p.m. to 7 a.m. My Dad was working hard and long hours as a government contracted engineer for a company called DS2 that worked with helicopters such as Black Hawks and installing communication radios. To say the least, they were doing their best to provide for their family.

Then one day, Mom lost both of her jobs and in an economy where jobs are scarce, and gas is at $4.00 a gallon, things weren’t looking so good. So my Mom filed for unemployment and in the mean time, started to look for a new job.


With no luck on the job hunt, my Dad came home each night, times ranging from 10:30 p.m. to 3 a.m. One night he came home, late again, with the news of possible layoffs. The weekend was a long and full of anticipation for Monday to come. Time felt like slow motion. When the weekend was over, Dad was off to work. We all sighed with relief. On my way to school, my Mom told me why he almost lost his job, the Government Shutdown. That’s when I realized how important it was to pay attention to politics and the news. While I was planning my life, going to college, prom, ECT, I never stopped to think how politics would affect all of that. This May, I plan to vote, and pay attention to who I’m voting for, because I should care, I should pay attention and I should understand what’s going on in our nation.