By Brian Raabe
There will be some last-minute campaigning this weekend, perhaps a lull Monday.
Wednesday morning, we will wake up and know the outcome.
And there will be many individuals who will be unhappy with the result… but did not vote.
Like a Christmas Carol, they will live with an election year squandered, versus participation among fellow town residents.
And like Jacob Marley, they will wear the chains of election outcomes they forged in life.
Maybe that’s all a bit much, I mean, it’s a local election. Big whoop.
That’s not true.
It’s an election that will determine so many things so dear to each of us, in a very tangible way.
Our children, our homes, literally our ability to weather the storm.
Local elections are ** “the six inches in front of your face.”
It may be a clumsy analogy, “A Christmas Carol” – but between now and Tuesday, I hope people internalize the notion of fellowship squandered and do something about it by voting.
That you can imagine waking up on Wednesday – with an outcome counter to your desire and having to live with it, of bracing for impact – because of a lack of participation.
Scrooge tells his old partner floating above him in chains that he did not deserve his fate, that he was always a “good man of business.”
Jacob’s spirit flies into a rage,
“Business?!”
“Mankind was my business. The common welfare was my business; charity, mercy, forbearance, benevolence, were all my business. The dealings of my trade were but a drop of water in the comprehensive ocean of my business!”
As one of thousands in Greenwich that has boarded the train for decades, I think of Jacob Marley confronting Scrooge, and his warning of spirits to come.
And I think of the daily train becoming weeks, months, and years of presence in town, absent participation.
All of us, “good people of business.”
The election will take care of itself.
No.
The election will not take care of itself.
For those who think they will leave work early Tuesday to vote, or “hit the school on the way in.”
Think again.
You will be riding Metro-North home Tuesday night.
And it will be too late.
And you will wake Wednesday – and wish you had voted.
You will wish that you were not just present in Greenwich, but a participant.
Go to Town Hall this weekend. There may be a line. Stay. Stare at the flag.
Read the pledge of allegiance.
Stay. Vote.
Last year I watched people walk out, maybe they voted, maybe they didn’t.
400 votes make a difference in our elections…
Walk out and Tuesday will come and go. Your opportunity will have been lost.
For those who do not ride the train – go today.
Pick your half hour. Mark it down.
Here are the hours –
Town Hall is at 101 Field Point Rd
Go.
Your vote controls your fate.
Just as Ebeneezer could not undo all the ills of the world he occupied, he could at least do his part.
Again, maybe a bit too much.
Too preachy.
But it seems like a pretty important time to be evangelizing.
** Al Pacino, locker room speech, “Any Given Sunday”
Salty language if you look for it on YouTube.
Substitute “votes” for every time he say inches.
“Now, what are you gonna do?”
Vote.
“Democracy cannot succeed unless those who express their choice are prepared to choose wisely. The real safeguard of democracy, therefore, is education.”
– Franklin D. Roosevelt
“We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.”
– Thomas Jefferson
Note: The deadline to submit letters about the Nov 4 election for consideration by GFP was Oct 28, 2025.