OK, I have to admit, if you fancy yourself an attention-seeker, the canine life is rather satisfying.

Whether strolling the neighborhood with my human pets, or lounging with my pals in the park (long gone are the days of running ... too rough on my osteoarthritis), I cannot stride ten feet without some stranger gushing, asking my humans if they can pet me -- as if my arthritis-free Two-Leggers had the power to make such a decision.

But I digress.

At every turn I have new folks turning their attention to me, fawning over my every need.

And that's when the gibberish starts.

"Oh, look-at-the-big-doggie!"

"Hello!  Hell-O!  You're such a good boy, aren't you?  Yes, you are!"

"Hi, Pookie!"

(*sigh)

I cannot tell which is worse -- the puppyhood memories revived by such babytalk ("Oh ... my ... goodness, where-am-I-what's-happening-why-am-I-all-wet?!") ...

... or the feeling of self worth oozing out my paws.  ("Am I incompetent?  Am I visibly drooling?  Have I unknowingly fulfilled my lifelong fantasy of marking the human's mother-in-law's foul-smelling sofa?" ... Imagine one of those plug-in scent machines, a dryer sheet, and spicy pepper all rolled into one.  Yeah, you'd take a swipe at overwhelming that stench, too.)

It's enough to make a self-respecting dog let a frisbee go unretrieved.

Humans.  Please.

I know I'm a dog.  In my years, I have grasped this concept.

But I am not a human child.  I am not helpless.

Is it too much to ask that you not speak down to me as if I were?

Complacency.  Apathy.  Laziness.

All traits I associate with most American youth.  Whether it be my dealings with them on the bus ... or at a restaurant ... or while trying to walk through the mall, it seems those traits are perpetuated time and again -- at a complete disconnection from the wonder and potential life as an American citizen holds.

You hand them freedom and opportunity on a silver platter and they complain that their parents won't buy them a $500 mobile phone.

As those two young kids on Saturday Night Live ask, "Really?"

But today -- if even for just a day -- I admit I caught a glimpse of something entirely different.

As I stood in line at the polls, oh, about 60 voters deep or so when they opened, I noticed the usually monolithic, pre-dawn crowd of blue-haired women and rankled old curmudgeons was absent.  In its place were voters young and old, men and women, of all different races and backgrounds.  The poll workers themselves reflected the same spread.

The economic crisis in the U.S. and ongoing military conflicts worldwide remind this old canine of times he'd rather not revisit.  The situation requires terribly difficult decisions made by whoever assumes the Oval Office -- and the know-how to lead a nation yearning to be better than she has been.

It's not going to be easy fixing these problems, by any means.  But the American spirit doesn't get tampered down.  We don't back away.  Together, we take challenges head-on.

And there could be nothing more thrilling to me than to see so many Americans taking an active stance and voting -- especially the young ones.