If you are a human being over the age of eight, you were likely glued to your TV screen or radio on Nov. 8 to get the blow-by-blow results of the U.S. presidential election. Whether pleased or peeved with the result, we all had to know what it was.
Even my children, aged 13 and nine, fought against sleep to hear the results of the college votes come in, the CBC broadcast from the living room creeping through bedroom doors left ajar.
It was the last thing they thought about before bed and the first thing on their minds in the morning. The same was true for me and everyone I talked to about the election. It seemed this U.S. election was being watched the world over, and it made history through its sheer global engagement.
People around the world were tuned in, hoping, praying, cheering, jeering and passing judgment until the end.
It reminded me of a terrible reality TV show. You know, the kind that you have to watch even though it sickens you. The kind that compels you to yell at the TV screen, hoping that if you’re loud enough it will somehow change things.
I apparently woke my kids up at one point during the night after sleep overtook them, when the votes for Hillary started to pile up.
I couldn’t contain myself.
My kids didn’t care nearly as much about Canada’s election night in 2015 when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau became the leader of our country. In fact, they were hardly aware of it. It’s not that we didn’t talk about it around the house, it just didn’t have the kind of media attention the U.S. presidential election has had (and the resulting memes and YouTube parodies), so it wasn’t top of mind.
Thanks to the media attention on both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton and the extremely long run up to the presidential election, their campaigns became prime-time entertainment, which captured the attention of people young and old, near and far.
For that, I’m thankful. The level of engagement in this election has given me the opportunity to talk with my kids about the importance of voting, the difference in the electoral systems between the U.S. and Canada and the many important issues that were brought up through debates.
I’m sure there will be much more to talk about as Trump takes his first steps as president, and I look forward to the conversations and the learning it will lead to.
