Hear Ye, Hear Ye

LISTEN





Did you get it?

We've come a long way baby!

I read this article in the New York Times by Gail Collins the other day about the how the 90th anniversary of women getting the right to vote. 

A lot of the history I knew but not this part:

"The women and their allies knew they had a one-vote margin of support in the House. Then the speaker, whom they had counted on as a “yes,” changed his mind.

(I love this moment. Women’s suffrage is tied to the railroad track and the train is bearing down fast when suddenly. ...)

Suddenly, Harry Burn, the youngest member of the House, a 24-year-old “no” vote from East Tennessee, got up and announced that he had received a letter from his mother telling him to “be a good boy and help Mrs. Catt.”

“I know that a mother’s advice is always the safest for a boy to follow,” Burn said, switching sides."

Did you smile? I did with a bit of a lump in my throat. 

Then I thought of my 91 year old mom. I had to call her. Did she realize she was a year older that this historical change?  Had she ever talked to her parents about this bit of history? They were from Mississippi. Where did they stand on the issue? (Her father was 41; her mother, 26!)

"Oh," she said, "they were very progressive! They were very much in favor of women having the right to vote!"

I wish we could have talked longer but she was trying to get my husband on the road home. But we have an appointment to discuss it further.

So, celebrate Women's Suffrage Day n August 26. 

Hold it in your mind and heart in November. We have the vote! Use it! Celebrate it! Think of all those women had to go through to get us this right! It doesn't matter, it should not matter, that this is not a presidential election year. It is an important year for all women to show their appreciation for all the things the women who proceeded us were willing to go through to give us this privilege, this right!

So, ladies, think hard, listen hard, make some decisions, and VOTE!  And don't forget to encourage other women to do the same, help other women to do the same even if it's a ride to the polls! 

Don't forget, We've come a long way baby!