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I'm late! I'm late! For a very important date! No time,
to wait or hesitate. I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!. It was
definitely a Mad Hatter week and weekend. So,
unfortunately this newsletter did not greet you first
thing this morning (sorry, Brenda). But sometimes
life takes unexpected turns. That's what makes it
fun.
On Wednesday my daughter, Malaika,
turned twelve.
After much debate, she decided to stick with family
tradition and have dinner at Chili's. She wanted to
invite her boyfriend, so the four of us had dinner
together. I was amazed how much she has grown
over the past year. She ate a whole plate of ribs and a
molten chocolate cake almost single handedly. I don't
know how she got to be twelve when I have not
grown any older!
But as she grows older, I
doubt my ability as a parent as I never have before.
And I have to ask myself "why?" She is a great kid,
gets very good grades, keeps her room relatively
clean, is well like and she is still talking to me.
Yesterday we had a great mother-daughter day. That's
a big plus.
So why do I feel like I'm a bad
mom? Is it because she is her own person and I'm
finding that hard to deal with? Is it because her world
is growing so much that I feel left out? Is it because
she doesn't want to be tucked in at night anymore? I
really don't know the answers to these questions, but
we all have questions like these; if not about your kids
then about your marriage, your job, or some other
aspect of your life.
And you know what?
When we worry about these things we are worrying
needlessly. Most of the things we fret about
never happen. So I have decided to follow some
Advice from a Bat
- Trust in Your Senses
- Spend Time Just Hanging Around with Friends
- Get a Grip!
- Enjoy the Nightlife
- Sometimes You've Just Gotta Wing It!
- Guano Happens!
So, stop worrying and enjoy your week.
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Why Are You Not Voting?
The women before us.
The election is officially over for me. I filled out my
ballot and put it in the box at County Clerk's Office on
Main Street in Louisville. It was bit of a let down; no
fanfare, no other people around, just me and the ballot
box. But it was a very moving experience
anyway.
Both of my grandmothers were born
before women
had the right to vote. My mother was born in 1929,
only nine years after women were granted the right to
vote. My grandmothers and my mother voted in every
election, no matter how small. You may have already
seen this, but it bears repeating.
On
November 15, 1917, women who demonstrated for
the right to vote were jailed for picketing the White
House, carrying signs asking for the vote. They were
innocent and exercising their First Amendment rights
to petition the government and to assemble
peaceably. That night the warden at the Occoquan
Workhouse in Virginia ordered his
guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned
there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's
White House for the right to vote.
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and, with their
warden's
blessing, went on a rampage against the 33 women
wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell
bars above her head and left her hanging for the night,
bleeding and gasping for air. They hurled Dora Lewis
into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron
bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice
Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart
attack. For weeks, the women's only water came from
an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was
infested with worms. When one of the leaders, Alice
Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a
chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid
into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this
for weeks until word was smuggled out to the press.
These women suffered horribly so today, in 2008, we
could vote.
Now tell me again, why are you
not voting? Too busy, lines too long, kids need
attention, husband home late? Make the time, take a
book, vote early, vote by mail, take the kids with you,
call you husband and tell him to come home. It is your
right and your responsibility to vote. Whether
you are Republican, Democrat, Independent or Pink
with Purple Poke-a-Dots, get out and vote. Honor the
legacy of the 33 women who, in 1917, dare to ask for
the right and responsibility to vote.
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Being True to Yourself.
Sometimes it hurts.
I read this wonderful quote in my daughter's weekly
school newsletter. And today it takes on special
meaning. The quote is by William J. H. Boetcker
"That you may retain your self-respect, it is better to
displease the people by doing what you know is right,
than to temporarily please them by doing what you
know is wrong."
I realize that over the past
few weeks I have gotten political in my writings, but I
have tried to express my concerns in a way that will not
offend people. I must admit that I have never been so
emotional or so invested in an election since my first
election at 18. But I have been speaking from my
heart, as I always have in this newsletter. Because
that is who I am and what I do.
But by being
true to myself, it appears I have lost one of my oldest
and dearest friends. She has unsubscribed to my
newsletter. That is, of course, her right.
The
problem with doing what you believe is right is that the
cost is high because the cost is friendship, criticism,
jobs and maybe even marriage.
When it
comes right down to it, there are very few things we
have in life; our health, our family, our friends, our
integrity and our self-respect. Our health can fail us,
we can have fall-outs and disagreements to the point
of
estrangement with family and friends. So all that's left
is our integrity and self-respect. And I will cherish
mine, because that's all I have.
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Grace and Peace,
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