Yesterday I was exhausted. I work on a job I don't like and the work coupled with the people can prove tiresome. I had a project due in class that nobody on my team bothered to do, I had to run to the grocery store, AND I had to use my lunch break to go get a six month overdue smog check. It was definitely one of those days. Hell, it was one of those weeks. HOWEVER, despite the stress, frustration, and exhaustion that weighed down my body, I still made time to review my sample ballot and get myself to my designated polling place to speak my political mind.
There have been plenty of election days in my 18 years of voting eligibility when I have not felt like going to the polls. Yesterday wasn't the first day I was tired on an election Tuesday. But any time I even entertain the idea of not going to the polls my mind is filled with visions of water hoses, billy clubs, burning crosses, bloodied bodies, and corpses laying in the streets. All of those suffering have faces that look like mine. They had hard days at work too. They had crying babies, overdue bills, and lived under the Jim Crow regime yet they still sacrificed everything so I would be able to go to the polls. Those are the reasons I vote. I cannot justify resting at home on my couch because I have had a hard day when those who came before me had hard lives and still fought for my right to vote. So, hurt feet, hurt heart, tired body, and all - I trudged to the polls yesterday. If for no other reason, it was to say thank you to those who made it possible for me to walk into a booth and fill in several tiny bubbles. There is no other alternative.
1 comment:
I echo your thoughts and add to that women's suffrage. That's why it is NEVER a problem for me to drive the long distance back to my county of registration so that I can proudly walk in the polling place with my Black Veteran father so that we too can exercise our political opinions!
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