Voting is Cool

My mom told me about her dad and his voting practices. He would say to my mom and grandma, "Ya'll need to go vote." Or, "Did ya'll vote yet?" Probably before or after work, over morning coffee or afternoon coffee. I don't know that it happened like that, but I'd like to think so. Pappa sipping his early morning coffee, before he was off to do whatever errand or job he had that day (he was a plumber). Before my mom was 23 and married to my dad. Grandma in the kitchen, frying some eggs and bacon.

"Ya'll be sure and go vote today," Pappa would say. Never demanding. Just reminding.

And never, my mother said, sharing his political views. Politics were a private issue for Pappa. Mamma said he never talked about them and never told anyone how they should vote.

I loved my Pappa. I always looked forward to seeing him. He died in 1996. He would be surprised, I think, by the way that politics has changed in just the short years since he passed.

Politics, anymore, is definitely NOT a private issue.

Not that it should be. I don't know. You share, I'll share, we can talk about it. But I wonder about Pappa's motives for not sharing. Was it that he was trusting enough of his friends and family to vote their heart, their conscience, and to vote for the right person, so far as they could figure, anyway? Or, could be, that he just didn't want to talk about it. I don't know. But that was his right. Talk about it or don't.

I'm not going to talk about politics. But what I am going to say is, how cool that we live in a place that allows us to vote as we choose. That allows us to vote AT ALL. Not only that, that allows us to stand around the polling area, or sit around in Sunday school or at work or at Wal-Mart or wherever, and discuss our vote. Even disagree with one another! Freely, openly. And when the man is elected, if we don't like him, we can say that! Out loud! Not all places in the world have this freedom.

I trust you to vote for the right guy, so far as you figure who would be the right guy. If we disagree, that's OK. I may not vote for the same guy, after all. But we can stand around somewhere and discuss it later.