
After 5 nights and 4 days in limbo, my hunk of Manhattan came back this morning at 1AM, On my block, someone’s little Honda smashed by a tree. We hunkered down with flashlights and candles, no TV, no Internet, no reading after sunset. I remembered my grandmother who told me of the day her father brought home a new invention; you put it on a table, it lit up the whole room! Kerosene lantern. I wished we had one, sensing what it was like in days when you went to bed at dark, got up at dawn.
Sandy can’t be compared to Katrina, except by those who lost loved ones, those whose houses were destroyed, and the tens of thousands still without electricity, heat, and water. Delaware, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New York are rarely hit by hurricanes. What is Mother Nature trying to tell us?
Three days from now, Election Day, and all that matters is casting a vote. Without voting there is no “consent of the governed.” People do shady things trying to get elected but worse than shady is trying to stop anyone from voting. That’s anti-American. And people who do it by trying to scare people from the polls are terrorists.
I cast my first vote for Harry S. Truman in 1948. Before that I was too young. The voting age was 21. I’d been in the army, fought, and was discharged before my 21st birthday. People asked how you could be too young to vote but old enough to fight and die. Great question. Since then, I’ve missed once, in Asia on a dance tour. Voting is a beautiful ritual.
If you don’t like either candidate, vote for one of the others. Gary Johnson, Libertarian Party. Virgil Goode, Constitution Party. Jill Stein, Green Party. Rocky Anderson, Justice Party.. And others scattered around the States. But vote. It’s a sacred act that rationalizes, legitimizes and defines our country.
So, VOTE! Please.
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