Here I am, in the month of August - six months into the global COVID-19 crisis. Yes, quarantined. Yes, various types of face masks, depending on my mood. Yes, hunkered down in the hottest month of the year with major power-outages, because California (and all of the Western States) are energy deficient. Over 172,000 people have died in the United States from the pandemic.
In the last 3 months, there has a been a shift of direction by many of us humans here on earth. Comparing our plight to 1918-19 pandemic, we "boomers" learned about it in school, some of our parents did, but almost all of our grandparents, lived through it. My grandmother, Bessie, would always talk about it. She lost her first husband to the pandemic with 3 children under the age of 4...the youngest, my Uncle Kenny was only two months old. That was 1918.
Imagine a young widow, no income at all, on the brink of poverty. The worry, of course was how would she make it through, not only the grieving, but the care and feeding of her children. They lived in Lodi at the time, and her father-in-law allowed her to run a boarding house to help with shelter and food. She survived it. She made it through the first year of widowhood, while raising three children. She managed her family, while running a boarding house. She managed a lot from her life, including growing up on an Iowa farm, to relocating with her parents to Eugene, Oregon. She was exceedingly resilient, and damn good at canasta (my Dad was her favorite victim).
So here I am, as most of you are, wondering how will this end? I have been focusing my attention on our current political angst. The picture is nasty. Women are getting elected despite the misogynistic and sexist venom thrown at them. I am trying to stem that with supporting any woman who runs for office. Mentoring and encouragement is what they need. Indeed, we need to make sure that this country WILL be equal for my grand-daughters and yours.
TODAY: August 18, 2020, is the 100 Years anniversary of the 19th Amendment. The passage of that amendment was the Federal action that my grandmother had already enjoyed as a resident of Oregon. They voted for State women's suffrage in 1912, whereas California had voted it in 1911. I still remember my mother AND my grandmother telling me the importance of voting. Never in my life did I ever think that I wouldn't participate in that right.
Last night, the Democratic National Committee opened their "virtual" convention in a somber, but very effective theme...voting this year is a matter of keeping our Democracy or losing it. As I watched so many women speak as leaders with the finishing speech from past-First Lady Michelle Obama, speaking truth-to-power, I knew that the next 2 1/2 months of this Presidential campaign is going to become nastier and dirtier to the point that WOMEN, who have the power to throw the current White House occupant out of the Presidential office, might not vote at all...bringing all of the 2016 efforts of that campaign with the same results. Electing a narcissistic, sociopath into an office that he is "in over his head" and incapable of doing will be a travesty.
I leave you with this. Grandma survived the pandemic. Grandma saw World War I, widowhood, a great depression, the election of F.D. Roosevelt, World War II, death of a second husband (my grandfather), a Korean War, AND Haight-Ashbury. Grandma was strong, resilient, and sufficient. She voted every time there was an election. So...be like my Grandma. Don't get discouraged by the mad-cow disease of fake-reports, scandals, and people ready to make a profit on books that will dissuade you from participating as a voting citizen. VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT, BECAUSE IT DOES.
RSS Feed
