Democracy and voting are things I think about a lot.
Yesterday I went door to door with the Social Democrats and met people in conversations about society and the future.
Sometimes democracy feels like something big and abstract.
But often it starts with something simple – a conversation at a doorstep.
This morning I went swimming.
And in the water something happens to my thoughts.
They begin to sort themselves out.
🇸🇪 Read in Swedish -> Min morfar kämpade för rösträtten – därför går jag och röstar
If you want to read more about my grandfather’s life, I have written a separate post about him and the world he grew up in.
👉 Thor Ivar Lindberg – from child auction to life in a changing Sweden
A moment in the water
This morning I went swimming.
I have always liked swimming long distances.
Breaststroke, a little backstroke. I cannot do crawl, and that does not really matter.
What matters is not how you swim – but the rhythm.
When I swim, something happens to my thoughts.
They begin to sort themselves out.
In the water there are no comments, no headlines, no quick replies.
Only the movement, the breathing, and the body.
And suddenly I notice that I am there again –
one with the swimming.
Finally I am there again, in the strokes and in the water.
It has been difficult these past weeks when I have been sick and have not had the strength to swim.
Democracy and voting – conversations at the door
Flowers on the table before we went out knocking on doors.
Yesterday I went out knocking on doors together with the Social Democrats.
I must admit that at first I didn’t dare to say very much.
It felt like the others were better at talking than I was.
But after a while the words started to come.
I realised that it wasn’t about saying the perfect things.
It was about meeting people.
Listening to what others think – and sharing why I vote the way I do.
A meeting that stayed with me
One meeting stayed with me a little extra.
A woman opened the door and we started talking. She came from Gothenburg, and quite quickly we discovered that we had both lived in Bergsjön.
Suddenly we had something in common.
We talked about how it could feel there – like a community where people from different countries still lived side by side. A place where people met in everyday life.
Here in the village where we live now it looks different.
There are not many immigrants here – yet there are strong opinions about them.
It feels a little strange when you think about it.
When we start dividing the world – democracy and voting
During the day I thought about something that worries me.
That we increasingly seem to look for scapegoats instead of solutions.
That we divide society into us and them.
But a society does not develop like that.
A society develops when people meet, talk and try to understand each other.
Bullying, hate and human encounters
Why I vote
For me it is actually something quite simple.
That the differences in society should not become too large.
That society is all of us.
When the distance between people becomes too great – economically, socially or in opportunities – something important is lost.
I believe we must try to meet instead.
To talk.
To listen.
To take responsibility together.
When the doors had been knocked and the conversations held, we gathered again around the table.
When I stood there knocking on doors today, I also thought about my grandfather.
He fought with words for the right to vote.
That makes me feel a responsibility to use that right.
Because democracy is not something that simply exists – it lives through us when we go out and vote.
My grandfather, the right to vote, democracy and voting
My grandfather fought with words for the right to vote.
That is why it feels like a duty – both to him and to those who came before us – that we actually go and vote.
It is when we vote that we make our voices heard.
That is when we can make a difference.
That is when we can influence what the coming years will look like.
Democracy does not live on its own.
It lives because we use it.
Maybe that is also why I stood there knocking on doors today.
Because democracy is not only something we talk about – it is something we do together.
An ordinary evening
After a few hours together with other Social Democrats, I drove off to watch Alfred play football.
Of course, I had misunderstood the situation a little – it was not a match, only a training session.
But that didn’t matter.
When the training was finished, my daughter, her partner and Alfred came home to us for a little dinner.
It is always so nice when they come here.
Today Alfred’s favourite person was here as well – my youngest daughter’s boyfriend.
They played Uno together, laughed and had fun.
After that he spent some time with the little boy and his friend.
Those small everyday moments do something to the house.
There is life.
There is movement.
There is togetherness.
But as always when you are having a good time, time passes quickly.
And eventually it was time for them to go home.
AHA – between the lines
A day can contain many things.
Conversations about society.
Meetings at people’s doors.
Thoughts about democracy.
And then an ordinary evening around the kitchen table.
Maybe that is where everything meets.
In the big things – and in the small ones.
Reflection
What would happen if we started talking more with each other – instead of about each other?
Maybe change begins right there.
On my blog I often write about everyday life, ADHD and presence, and about how we try to create a society where people are allowed to simply be human.
I have written before about how human encounters can change the way we see each other.
More reflections about everyday life and society.
A question for you who are reading
Sometimes I think about how many things in our society today we take for granted.
The right to vote is one of them.
My grandfather fought with words so that people could have the right to vote.
That makes me feel a responsibility to actually use that right.
But I also wonder:
Do you have someone in your family who fought for something we today take for granted?
What does the right to vote mean to you?
And when we meet people who think differently – do we still dare to talk to each other?
Maybe a society that holds together begins right there.
In the conversation between people.
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Yesterday has already settled into history, tomorrow waits further ahead.
But right now – this is where life happens.
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