Voting Rights
Last week we had to say good-bye to Rosa Parks. This week we have to cast out votes. What does one have to do with the other? A lot. Mrs. Parks was the beginning of what we call the Civil Rights Movement. Voting was a significant part of that movement.
We not only could not sit where we wanted, dine where we wanted, shop where we wanted, live where we wanted, go to school where we wanted and a host of other things that affected our daily lives, included in that list of “can’t dos” for minorities, was the right to vote. Mrs. Parks was the catalyst of an all-out fight for the right to be counted as a human being.
Today across the southeast region of Michigan some people are honoring the loss of lives in the fight to have a right to choose. The sad part of it all is that we know there are some out there who don’t get it. They can’t see the reason for casting a vote. I know. I have heard it all before. My vote doesn’t count. I’m just one man or woman. Whomever I vote for won’t win anyway, so why bother. What difference will it make, they make sure the one they want, wins. Blah, blah, blah and so on and so on.
Stop! I’ve heard enough. How can you not see why each and every vote does count? Let me try to explain it to you. Let’s say you are running to be president for your neighborhood block club. There are 57 households on your block. Hence, 57 votes to be cast. Twenty-eight households voted for you and 28 voted for your opponent. Now think about it. That would leave an equal number of people voting for each candidate. We know that is not going to work. Someone has to have the majority of votes to be the president. How do you resolve this? You find the household that didn’t vote and ask them to cast one. Simplistic, isn’t it?
I gave you a simple way of looking at why your vote counts in any election, large or small. You see, it only takes one vote to decide which way the wind will blow. It only takes one vote to decide if you can or can’t accomplish something. It only takes one vote to decide if you stay the course or change direction. It only takes one vote to decide every thing in this country. That one vote is the most important vote because it just could be the last vote to be counted and that last vote could be yours, the one that says yea or nay.
If you can show me in the simplest way how one vote won’t count, I will be quiet from now on about the right to vote. Until then, hear me roar, loud and clear,
I VOTED, HOW ABOUT YOU?
We not only could not sit where we wanted, dine where we wanted, shop where we wanted, live where we wanted, go to school where we wanted and a host of other things that affected our daily lives, included in that list of “can’t dos” for minorities, was the right to vote. Mrs. Parks was the catalyst of an all-out fight for the right to be counted as a human being.
Today across the southeast region of Michigan some people are honoring the loss of lives in the fight to have a right to choose. The sad part of it all is that we know there are some out there who don’t get it. They can’t see the reason for casting a vote. I know. I have heard it all before. My vote doesn’t count. I’m just one man or woman. Whomever I vote for won’t win anyway, so why bother. What difference will it make, they make sure the one they want, wins. Blah, blah, blah and so on and so on.
Stop! I’ve heard enough. How can you not see why each and every vote does count? Let me try to explain it to you. Let’s say you are running to be president for your neighborhood block club. There are 57 households on your block. Hence, 57 votes to be cast. Twenty-eight households voted for you and 28 voted for your opponent. Now think about it. That would leave an equal number of people voting for each candidate. We know that is not going to work. Someone has to have the majority of votes to be the president. How do you resolve this? You find the household that didn’t vote and ask them to cast one. Simplistic, isn’t it?
I gave you a simple way of looking at why your vote counts in any election, large or small. You see, it only takes one vote to decide which way the wind will blow. It only takes one vote to decide if you can or can’t accomplish something. It only takes one vote to decide if you stay the course or change direction. It only takes one vote to decide every thing in this country. That one vote is the most important vote because it just could be the last vote to be counted and that last vote could be yours, the one that says yea or nay.
If you can show me in the simplest way how one vote won’t count, I will be quiet from now on about the right to vote. Until then, hear me roar, loud and clear,
I VOTED, HOW ABOUT YOU?
posted by Sylvia McClain at 2:31 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home