Voting for inclusion

Just voted... It feels so insignificant... My vote will make so little difference. The real hope over the next 4 years, for this country, lies not in the cross I made on a piece of paper, but in our collective active citizenship and our creating the world we dream of around us through how we live. I am not concerned with using my vote for self interest or to advance my own freedoms, but am more concerned about the political, economic, and social exclusion so many of my neighbours feel. I therefore voted for a party that I believed would best represent the voice of those excluded and on the margins. The party I voted for has, like all other parties, leaders who are far from perfect, but whenever I go to rallies, protests or spend time with the poor I see them there. They are listening, organizing and standing with the poor! I have personally discovered that as I have positioned myself living among those on the margins, observing the injustices against them, listening to their cries and stood with them in solidarity, that it has shaped and changed me and I know it will continue to shape and change these leaders too. In the end, the true measure of our advancement as a nation will be measured not in opportunities for a few politically connected, but in the inclusion, justice and standard of services provided to those who can least afford them. ‪#‎2014Elections‬ ‪#‎SouthAfrica‬ ‪#‎BeTheChange‬

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