Election Day 2008. On this day, we stand in the footprints of fellow Americans who dreamed, sacrificed and died so that we might continually have an opportunity to choose those who represent our ideas. When we peer out from our borders into other countries, we see the germ, in some places more nurtured than others, of what began as an experiment in the New World. It was an experiment in Freedom, of declaring our choices sovereign. To conceptualize the world our Forefathers saw is a difficult task on a planet now interconnected in so many ways, and a little archaic to describe the concepts immortalized in our Constitution as innovative. What a testament to their generation that much of our world now considers the republic commonplace. Yet, always remember that untold millions live in places where their voices are not heard, and where their choices are meaningless. The fight continues.
I spent some time looking this morning for my flag pin. Since I voted a week ago, I wanted in some small way to encourage patriotism and show support for my country. My search was in vain, and I settled on wearing blue (a choice I might have made anyway; I love blue). In my search, I came across an essay from July 4, 2002 written by David McCullough. "Bold Men in Ruffled Shirts" appeared in the New York Times that day and commemorated our first celebration of independence since 9/11. I love to read this essay aloud. McCullough, like his subjects, demands oratory. This seemed a perfect avenue by which I could express my profound respect for our democratic system, warts and all. I walked into the bedroom, where Alicia was still getting ready for the day and offered to read it to her. There's a certain part I cannot get through without emotion overriding my speech a little:
"When we see them in paintings, with their ruffled shirts and powdered hair, they look a little like fops, softies. But life then, at best, was tougher than we know, and they were, too, and the women no less than the men. John Adams predicted a long, costly struggle. 'I am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure it will cost us to maintain their Declaration,' he told Abigail. 'Yet through the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing light and glory. I can see the end is more than worth all the means.'"
That end is your ability to stand in a voting booth and raise your voice, and declare that a "government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth." We take for granted many things in this society others do not enjoy. History compels us to appreciate such an opportunity as this.
