WE HAVE FAILED our children by giving them counterfeit models by which to judge what citizenship is all about. Whomever we select to lead the country, we should make the act of voting important to our children.

As Americans, shouldn’t it be important to our children? Isn’t that what each of us expects from our children, and they from us? But is that how we as citizens have been behaving? In our last local election, when some important questions were on the ballot and citizens placed their names on our political canvas, 22 percent of us chose to act as citizens by voting! Only 22 percent? It was an insult to every citizen who voted! Guess how our children must have felt when so few of us held their future in such few hands?

I suggest they encourage their parents, neighbors and friends to vote by becoming activists encouraging anyone that comes on or passes by their campus to register vote, become aware of candidates and questions up for consideration, display equal and limited resumes of their dual positions, ask if everyone knows where the vote and if not to get that vital information, and finally, on Election Day to parade with signs that say, “Be Sure to Vote!”

Whether or not such activity is permitted on school grounds, and by the students attending, I am not sure. But when voting fails to attract more than 20 percent of eligible voters then it is time to get riled — Democrats and Republicans. Such outrageous behavior on the part of a majority of the voting public demands vigorous activity from the entire community.