i hate to own up to the term "undecided voter", but these are the breaks, kids. and so it is, with much love and devotion to the delightful david sedaris and his "undecided voters", i spin you a tale today.
last night while helping me with supper as jason caught up on some news, bella suddenly blurted out, "oh no. not him. he's gonna ruin the whole world."
i was more than a little shocked and asked who she was referring to.
she said "obama".
i asked her where she heard that and if she truly knew who obama was.
i know i'll probably get hit upside the head for the following announcement. and i'm sure it makes me a truly horrible mom. but here goes: unlike the rest of the free world, i chose not to sit my daughter down and hold lengthy discussions regarding this election.
there, i said it.
we've talked about what an election means and who the candidates are, and how important it is to vote, especially as a girl who will one day be a woman. bella's caught a couple of the debates with us & got to take part in *kidz rock the vote* at ETSU over her intercession week, but thats been about it.
reflect *motherly civic duty*? check.
while i agree children should have information, i also believe they should be children as long as possible. i'm not raising my daughter to be some passive conservatist, but i am of the mind that as long as i can stretch out the fact that the grownups of the world are, to a large extent, insane, and many have succeeded in making the u.s. one big hot mess, i'm on board. there's plenty of time for protests in her future. the trouble with that thought train is how it tends to derail with unexpected intervals in the land of influence.
when bella popped that big eye-opening statement,we discovered she'd overheard a conversation between her nana and aunt. the one, citing *devout christianity*, the other, plain old fashioned discrimination. wow. thanks, guys. score one for the ladies.
which, sadly, will play a part in this election, on both sides, no matter how you cut the cheese.
i asked her why they or she thought obama would ruin the world and she didn't know. it was painfully apparent she'd just been paroting. and the last thing i want is for my daughter to go around spouting off misinformation based on ignorance.
and so, what had to follow, was a cliff notes version on our history, and a conversation about difference of opinion and peoples rights to those opinions. that we have 2 candidates that have different ideas of how something should be done. and thats' what we're voting for: who we think has the best ideas on how to take care of our country. we talked about how important it is for us to respect our government and president. how important it is that we pray for him/her, that they will make good choices for us.
but even as we explained this, i felt a twinge of sadness and uncertainty.
growing up, my dad always stressed the fact that you can't be lukewarm; you're either hot or cold. and if you choose to sit out on the fence, then you give up your right to raise your hand and object. that's something that's always stuck with me, and i gave the same explanation to my own daughter last night.
but this year, i find myself edging closer and closer to that fence. ya know, i tend to dodge the subject of politics, whenever possible. not because i'm playing the neutral card or i'm hiding behind the sacredness of my party preference and all it represents, but because i feel as tho when politics enters a discussion, all objectivity just goes right out the door and everyone just sees red.
much like this election.
does that give me a right to sit on the fence? no. but does it mean i prefer obama to mccain in this election, one over the other? no. when bella asked me whose ideas i believed in, i honestly had to tell her right now i'm not sure.
i don't know where you're at in this vote. well, ok, some of you have made it perfectly clear, but here's where i'm at:
i wish we had another option.
i think, to a large extent, that the american population has been blindsided by the unprecidented opportunity we have before us. everything is new and refreshing and a promise for *change*. and anything with "the works" or "bigger and better" in the title.....any change in general, causes a frenzy nowadays. on the one side, you've got potentially the first black president. on the other, a woman for the vice position. never before been seen or done. and because of that, i think alot of the heavier topics on the line aren't even being taken into consideration.
i think we have a huge, monumental decision on our shoulders next week. and i think that either way you look at it and whatever your vote will ultimately be, in my heart of hearts, i feel its just a calm before a storm. unlike any other.
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2 comments:
I already emailed you my arguments. My five seconds on the soapbox so to speak. I think that things like color and gender are sparkly eye catchers. I DO think McCain has been using the sun catchers, that's the only reason he picked Palin. (My family has certain connections to the Palins and I can't reveal more than that Or BOOM there goes my cover), and last week's incident with Ashley Todd in Pittsburg was heralded by the McCain camp in PA as further proof of how BAD those Obama people are. You know the girl who carved a backwards B in her cheek and said it was done by a 6'4" black man who sexually assaulted and mutilated her for having a McCain bumper sticker. I know she is ill and did it to herself, but the McCain people were talking up the press about it before the police had even started looking into it properly. Again, razzle dazzle "look over here and see what the black man is doing to the white girl. Are you SURE you want a black man in office?" It's Sick.
So, the race and gender things don't sway my vote. I just want to know who is best to take us forward from our country's rock bottom. This is our rock bottom. I do think that knowing where someone stands on things that are important to you is more important. And, I already emailed you the important bits that are important to me. You, as a voter, may have different criteria than I do. The only thing to do is be informed and make the best decision for YOU. seriously. I canvass every election and I tell everyone the same thing. "Just vote." Doesn't matter to me HOW you vote, but I do think that the only way a democracy can really work is if every eligible voter votes in the most informed manner possible.
*oh, and I'm one of THOSE parents that makes their kid politically informed. I'm sure it's going to bite me in the ass one day. Although, I'm not as intent on a well-balanced perspective as my dear sweet friend Sisyphesse, she makes me look like a political miscreant. Her kids are SO smart.
i just shot off an email your way and think i may copy/paste a tiny bit here too. :)
i respect your argument whole-heartedly. and i realize in my hasty post, i may have caused a little concern or speculation. first, i have to say that i commend and think its absolutely awesome and respectable to keep our kids informed of the world around them. i just feel entirely inadequate in that at times. and this election is one of those times.
i feel in a unique position, living in a southern state, where the sun-catchers you spoke of, are unfortunately still painfully obvious here. and while i'd like to believe we've evolved and progressed so far past that, unfortunately, it just isn't so.
i'm in an area of the country that is still consistently backwards on topics like *womens rights* and *racism*. matter of fact, just a short 30 minute drive from me, still exists an active kkk group, which i find apalling.
add to that, being smack dab in the middle of the self proclaimed "Bible Belt" that bans rock groups from having concerts, yet sees nothing wrong with turning their heads from the people in need and passing self judgement and eternal damnation, which goes against everything i feel God or Christianity or Spirituality in its entirety, STANDS for.
i think its because of this, i've been perhaps a little quieter in my explanation of the presidential race to bella. while we raise her in a household that emphasizes an open heart and mind to all things new and different and the importance of equality, there's still that not-so-silent shadow in the background.
when she made that statement the other night, my heart nearly jumped out of my chest. not at just the simple misunderstanding but the possible unintended implications, and therefore the repercussions from it, on a whole other level, should she say that outside the confines of our home.
what i left out of our conversation that followed, was also bella's confusion as to why her best friend randi was so mad at her. she'd told her if she didn't vote for obama, they couldn't be friends anymore because "her mama didn't like her having white friends ANYway."
but bella was worried that, like her nana had said, he was going to "ruin the whole world."
and that was huge to her. i was instantly transported back to the 70's and along with fire and tornado drills were the nuclear drills at my school as well. i remember watching the huge mushroom cloud they displayed over and over on the evening news and being terrified.
also monumental, was the fact that for the first time ever, i felt i needed to look in-depth with her at this big monster word called *discrimination* while simultaneously explaining why that shouldn't matter in this election.
i don't know if lumping myself in the undecided bin is entirely accurate when it comes down to the topics near and dear to my heart. because i do feel confident in my choice, tho that's been a little scary for me. because unlike any other election since i've been old enough to vote, i feel such a pressure. such a responsibility.
and, as i ended my post, i truly believe that no matter the outcome, we are truly in a calm before the storm.
i don't claim to be politically savvy. its just not in me. for me, watching CNN right now is like an exciting 10 hour day of pro golf on the nebraska plains. i get frustrated in the debates at counting how many questions can be sucessfully dodged.
i'm very much the person that wants the facts. this is what we're talking about and this is what we believe. no backtracking. no "oh wait, i didn't understand the question". i want the rundown, the cliffnotes version and the summary of events. and politics is one of those little things that doesn't run on *kat time*. its all about the razzle-dazzle and seeing how far east we can run from a western topic, if you will. somewhere in that process i start to zone out and drool on myself.
that said, i care very much about our country; its status and where its headed. and i don't view my political ineptitude as an excuse to just sit it out and cross my fingers. i think we were given a voice for a reason and that in itself becomes not just our right but our responsibility, then.
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