Vote Quietly, Live Peacefully

The commercial appeared on Mexican television every election season. Simple. Direct. Brilliant.

A quiet narrator spoke over images of ordinary people. Neighbors, coworkers, friends. "The vote is secret. Nobody else needs to know."

I was in middle school when I first noticed it. I watched dozens of government commercials, but this one stuck because it whispered a wisdom that would take years to understand.

In Mexico, politics lived in voting booths, not living rooms. I barely knew who my parents voted for, let alone my uncles and aunts, or friends and their parents. I never heard heated arguments at family dinners about candidates or parties.

Everyone simply voted and kept quiet.