Oprah's show today was all about the election and encouraging people to vote. Every person in her audience was wearing a shirt that said "I vote for...." and people were filling in the blanks with words like hope, better health care, jobs, and of course change. It made me think about why I vote and make the decisions I make, politically. I vote for my children. I vote so that they know they have choices. I vote so that they know their opinions matter. I vote so my children will vote. It really does not matter who you vote for, it just matters that you vote.Voting is something I remember doing with my parents when I was a child. Voting in New York was a much different experience than voting in Florida. I remember these big voting booths with curtains and big levers to close the curtains. Once those curtains were closed there were all these smaller levers that my mom or dad would let me flip so that I could vote. Not so in Florida, the ballot was two pieces of paper on a shaky table with a magic marker. I could not even pick the girls up and show them the ballot because I was afraid the table would fall over. Somehow voting in 1970 was far more magical than voting in 2008!
The girls knew who they were voting for, Lior was voting for John McCain, Sydney and Jordan were voting for Obama. When we asked the girls why they were voting for their candidate, Lior responded "because he's a guy!" Sydney and Jordan thought his name was funny. I am glad the girls had the experience and we will make sure that they vote every election day. It is not every day you get to see history being made.
Oprah had on a black woman who was born in 1899. She has seen it all and remembers a time when she was not allowed to vote as both a black person and a woman. She had raised seven children, I think, had countless grandchildren, great grandchildren and even great-great grandchildren. They all vote because she taught them how important it is. They vote because she does and did. That is the message I want to pass on to our children.
We took part in history today and there are not many days you can say that about.
1 comment:
That's so great that the kids went with you to vote. It was such an amazing day and an incredible outcome. Martha & I also remember going to vote with Mom. We had the big lever curtain booth back then, too. It was more dramatic than the little voting areas we have now. But nothing was as dramatic as this election!
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