I Would If I Could

"Action is eloquence."
-William Shakespeare

Spouse went to vote this morning shortly after daybreak, and I, always ready for an excursion of momentous proportions, accompanied him.
We were separated when Spouse entered a little room to vote and I hovered forlornly in the hallway. Twinging and straining to reach a ballot of my very own, I wondered how anybody could refrain from such an event.
It soon happened that a crisply-dressed lady, who was waiting to vote, turned to me as the line began crawling inside, and she asked if I wanted to go before her.
My short answer was no, thank you; the longer one, which was altogether much too elaborate- she was being swept forward by the crowd- was that I would very much like to, but was obliged by law to remain on the fringes for at least another four years.
I considered that the scene would be a brief lesson in civic duty for anybody who chose, out of sheer apathy, not to vote at all. Being compelled to observe others in action might awaken that old ideal of appreciating what one has before it is not there anymore.