So I attended my local high school's graduation last night.

[LWolf]

A bunch of my former students were graduating, and I showed up to celebrate with them. There were about 250 total graduates.

Before we got to the part we were all there for, we had 80 minutes of speeches. Two of them were good, the rest were "blah, blah, blah, quote. blah, blah, blah, cliche. More cliches."

It was crowded, it had been a very long day, and by the time the final speech rolled around, my head was pounding and I was considering giving up. My colleague spoke to her students, not the rest of us, and I could tell she'd developed a positive working relationship with them. I was tuning out though, focused on my headache, when she began to bring things to a close. I woke up and sat up straighter. I have to paraphrase, since I can't remember every word, but it went something like this:

"I know you are all excited about 'adulting,' about entering that adult world and being in charge of your own destinies. Let me remind you of your very first responsibility as adults: voting. Every single one of you is old enough to vote this fall, and every single one of you needs to do so. I know you don't like either of your choices. You've told me repeatedly. That doesn't excuse you from your responsibilities as adult citizens. Vote."

The graduates let out a rolling grumble at the bolded part.

I appreciated the way she wrapped up her speech, and it was heartening for me to hear their response, knowing that they will help to carry the revolution into their future.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Good for her for speaking the truth, and good for you for staying to hear it!

Hope your headache's gone.

[LWolf]

2. A good night's sleep

and I'm ready to head out for a family day.

Thanks.

[HassleCat]

3. Voting as a civic duty.

In some cases, it might fulfill my civic obligation to refrain from voting, perhaps entirely, but more likely just for specific candidates. In totalitarian nations, citizens exercise their right to protest by not voting, not lending their votes to a phony plebiscite. If faced with a choice between evil and not quite as evil, I might not be able to support the lesser of two evils. After all, my vote is important, and I don't want to vote for evil. So I might leave some offices or issues unvoted on my ballot. I still have an obligation to vote the rest of the ticket, where there is a choce between good and evil.

[LWolf]

4. I don't think we

have to restrict ourselves to "evil" and "lesser evil." I don't.

I generally don't leave anything blank unless it's someone running all by themselves, with no one challenging them. What's the point, then? Those I leave blank.

When there is no other option between "evil" and "lesser" evils, I'll write someone in the blank. That, of course, is just symbolic, but I'm still voting.

[msongs]

5. insulting remark to those who DO like one of their choices. presumptuous speaker. (not the OP) nt

[LWolf]

6. She was acknowledging what they'd already said to her.

In this area, a smaller, close-knit community, I've yet to hear anything different, at least not recently. A year ago, there was some noise for Trump; that's faded, though; I haven't heard any since last summer. I have never heard a whisper of support here for Clinton.

Of course my students, being younger, are usually parroting their parents, but still.

She did, after those remarks, encourage them to research candidates to decide what was the best fit for each.