On the evening of April 17, I stood in the Bobcat Student Lounge, side by side with my friends. A crowd gathered on the first floor of Baker Center. We fixated on the announcer behind the microphone, our hope as quiet and as loud as we could collectively bear.
Then the results were announced. Restart had an election victory that involved two-thirds of Student Senate. As my fellow campaigners and I cheered, I instantly understood something primal to the human experience: We had dared to believe in ourselves, and that was amazing. Even before the results were called, I felt the energy in the air on Election Day. For weeks, I witnessed students wake up at 5 a.m., chalk sidewalks, hang flyers and approach strangers genuinely.
Whenever I explained the Restart ticket to someone, I made sure to tell them that this was about more than Student Senate. It is about our lives. Society sedates us. We are forced into a skewed education system and told what to believe. Then when we come of age, there is the daunting realization that the world is far from perfect. Children from other countries are forced to miss school because they must walk miles to retrieve drinking water. Men and women are sexually assaulted every day. Self-interest and greed are valued above love.
At times it appears that the odds are against us. But who are we if we don’t fight, especially for one another? Politics and social institutions such as OU should be a reflection of what we want the world to be. A world of individuals who are empowered, fearless and loved. This is what I fought for in the Restart campaign.
College can be a distraction from true empowerment. It can be overwhelming. We pay thousands of dollars to sit in classes for hours and join a multitude of student organizations. Then when we take off our cap and gowns, and there is no guarantee that the world will be as kind to us as Athens was, but in the meantime, we must choose to enact change.
So in the coming months, I will not tire in my passion for opening up the hearts and minds of those around me. I campaigned with Restart because I wanted other students to believe that we deserve to have our voices heard. We are all a family. We are all loved. With this core compassion missing in politics, corruption will go unchecked. With Restart, I believe this dilemma will be fixed as long as we continue to work together.
Ryant Taylor is a junior studying English.
