Voting... There's NO Excuse not to!

Normally, I don't get 'all worked up' when election time comes around... But this year seems different to me for many reasons; one being the fact that I have a daughter who is now an adult. I want her future to be full of joy, and purpose; I feel one cannot exist without the other.

I won't get into my political preference but I must share this bit of family information (the reason it finds its way into my genealogy's blog); it is the source of pride in my roots and, as I sometimes reflect, disappointment in my (former) self. There were years (I am ashamed to say) that I didn't vote.  I felt as though my voice did not- in the big picture- matter. That what was to be in an election- would be- with or without my vote. 

When I had my daughter in 1986 I realized that my one vote DID matter and, that one day my daughter's vote would matter as well. Many women before me had fought for their right to make their voices heard. Who was I to blatantly through that right away? I realized it was not only my right and my duty, it was my privilege as a citizen of this great country to do what I can to make my voice heard; to make a difference with it.

However, if I faulter, if I begin to think that my vote doesn't matter, I pull out an old local newspaper clipping written in December of 1960. It is about my maternal grandmother, Mary Campbell Macdonal Gordon b: 1898 Ecclefechan, SCT d: 1960 Danville, PA; USA. My "Nanna" saw to it that her voice was heard, that her vote-as a naturalized American citizen- mattered, and that her privilege was exercised. She was carried to the polls to make her choice; she died a few weeks later.

My gratitude is great for my Nanna (and Pappa) for bringing my mother to this country; also to my paternal grandparents who came here from Italy. They all became American citizens and they all voted.  At times, when I take the many things which I have been afforded here in this nation for granted, all I need do is open my heart and listen... The blood that courses through my veins coursed in hearts from two other lands; hearts that struggled, succeeded, and loved this country as their own.

How could I, the granddaughter of ancestors who longed and worked for the privilege to vote, think my voice didn't matter?!?!?!?

On election day...PLEASE exercise your privilege and VOTE!