Here's to You Fannie Lou

I'm stuck at home with a cold. I'm glad I voted early. Otherwise, I'd have to drag my wretched behind down to the polls and vote. I guess everyone is blogging about voting today. I'm sure I can't say anything especially brilliant about it all. I was in the grocery store last night to get vegetables to make chicken soup. I asked the toothless, bearded black man in the butcher's apron if he had voted. Blank stare. I asked again. His head reared back and set hard on his shoulders. "Naw, I ain't voted." And as if to assure me, he wasn't alone in his cavern of ungrateful darkness, he said, "My wife ain't voted, (nodding to a co-worker) and he ain't voted either. Ain't redis-tered." "Hmmmmmmm," says I, "Don't you feel bad? I mean people marched and died so you could vote - so you could have this job." He had THAT look. I've seen it before when talking to the simple minded who find ignorance a warm fuzzy blanket. I walked away feeling downright ashamed that I had not knocked on doors or made phone calls to try and convince people like him, that voting really is important.

All night long, and this morning, I've been thinking about Fannie Lou Hamer.

She is at the top of my list of heroes; people who inspire me and make me ashamed that I am not braver or smarter. I thought about the hundreds of nameless souls who risked everything down in Mississippi to establish Freedom Schools and register African Americans to vote. I keep thinking, it now comes down to this. We the people will either rise up and take back what's ours or wallow in the misery heaped upon us by callous leaders who don't give a damn.

This morning, I am proud - proud of whatever fueled Senator Barack Obama and he doesn't seem to be tired yet. I am proud of all the old people standing in line to cast their votes and the young people voting for the first time. I am proud that millions of us found a kernal of hope in these dark times and chose to believe and NOT give up. I am also proud of Hillary Clinton. She found the courage to say and do what had to be done. Regardless of the outcome of this historic election, I hope we can keep the momentum going and bring the changes we need to make this "...one nation under God INDIVISIBLE."