Today, I performed my civic duty and voted in the New York City mayoral election. I knew I wasn’t going to wait in a long line the way I did  for the 2012 presidential election, but I was surprised when there was absolutely no wait, and I was in and out within five minutes. It’s as though no one feels the need to vote for our city or even country’s future.

Ed was like this. Even when he was of age, he never registered to vote. He didn’t understand or like politics (as if I do), and he didn’t think that his vote mattered (we used to bicker over this when I’d insist he should vote). Sometimes I get cynical and I think the same, but then this thought quickly washes away when I think about the women’s suffrage movement and how hoards of women less than a century ago fought for my right to vote. We all take for granted the privileges that we have that people before us have fought for and died over. While I think about this, it makes me sad to think that maybe Ed never thought about these things because he was so overwhelmed with his own inner demons that he couldn’t see or think about the history of people before him.

It’s okay, though. Now, my new duty as a citizen of this world is to preserve Ed’s memory and make sure he did not die in vain. Each day, I am thinking about different ways to remember my brother and prove to the world that despite the fact that he is physically not here anymore, he will never be forgotten, and I will always love him. The world will benefit from the unbridled love and affection he bestowed upon me in ways that it has yet to see.