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I didn't really know much about politics up until the past couple of years. While I found myself caught up in the Gore/Bush 2000 election as a fourth grader, I soon shifted focus and lost touch of the political world. It wasn't until September 11 that i regained my passion of politics as a 5th grader. I remember that day like it was yesterday, being in gym class as it was announced over the intercom wondering what was to come and if it was truly the end of the world.
In those days even though I supported Gore in 2000, a year later I was a Bush fan because of September 11. I would watch all of his speeches, I cheered when he stood on top of the remains of the world trade center and promised payback, and I mourned for the victims.
Like most Americans I was supportive of my President and my country. I thought that no one could lead us better than George W Bush. Then the ignorance of my youth wore off the day my mom came home crying because she and my dad had just lost their jobs to cheap overseas labor markets. I was soon to get my own job at a restaurant at 14 years old and start fighting for myself.
I helped with what I could giving money, offering support and helping with what I could. Year after year eviction after eviction I came to know that things must change. Thats when he came along, It was Presidential candidate John Kerry.
I knew from the start that he was my choice, he was my hope, he was my dream, he was my President. He was truly fighting for me and my middle class family. He shared the same values and the same beliefs that I did. From the war in Iraq that we both supported was a simple shared message,The commander in chief should not send our troops into harms way because he wants to, but only because we have to."
I soon found myself campaigning day and night, day and night. i began volunteering and soon enough I was getting calls from the Democratic National Committee asking me to travel to Ohio to some rallies to serve as a voice for teens everywhere,unfortunately my finances or my schedule would allow me.
I saw Kerry at a rally in Dayton,Ohio on October 19, 2004. It was my first political rally ever and my dads Union allowed us very close seats. I was only standing a few feet away from the man that I think i admire most in the world. There was so much intensity and passion in every word he spoke that night, I laughed, and I cheered and I cried that night thinking of what the future would hold.
Then came November 2, and it was all taken away within 24 short hours. for days and weeks and even months after the election I found myself in a true state of reflection, I found myself feeling as if my best friend had just been taken away from me. He was a best friend that gave me a hope and a dream, he told Americas best day were still yet to come, and i believed him.
Now I am looking to what the future will hold and for me it still holds the promise that John Kerry will be our next President. I realize this may be false hope and the chances of it happening are slimming down, but day by day it gives me something to hope for, something to dream about.
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