Tuesday, February 5, 2008

You know you're a social studies geek when....

...voting almost makes you cry.

Now - let me explain. For those of you who don't know, we live in what could technically be called "the hood." In fact, I often call it that myself, mostly to alleviate the concerns of people who think we own a half-million dollar home. There are houses in our larger neighborhood in that price range, so when people hear where we live, that's what they imagine. We live in the not-quite-as-nice portion of the area, which we actually prefer, since our neighbors are: a) friendly; b) not millionaires; and c) the kind of people that do their own yardwork. (I just returned from a work event at the Ritz-Carlton on Lake Oconee, and let me tell you, I have ZERO desire to ever lead that lifestyle. It was ridiculous, but I digress.)

Back to the almost-crying. I don't know how it works elsewhere, but in Georgia, polls are traditionally staffed by civic-minded retirees. They take their jobs very seriously, and some of them look old enough to remember when women got the right to vote. Since we vote electronically, it's very impressive how tech-savvy some of these ladies can be!

Anyway, our neighborHOOD is very racially integrated, and the voting lines today were no exception. What made me almost cry was the thought, though, that most of the people running the polling place were not able to vote until they were well into adulthood. Thanks to the wonders of Jim Crow, the ladies running my precinct would (I'm guessing) probably not have gotten to vote for President until 1968 - at best. And since some of them probably could have voted for FDR in his first term, that's really terribly sad.

Now, you might think, if a system has disenfranchised you for that long, & generally only worked to hurt you for no reason other than the color of your skin, you would probably disengage & say, "forget it." But for these ladies, that didn't stop them. I would love to know about the changes they've seen during their lifetimes, and if they realize how important it is that they are doing the job that they did today. Instead, I just smiled & joked with them. The oldest lady was teasing everyone about having filled out their verification forms wrong, & that we were going to break her fingers off because she was having to do extra writing. I thought that was hysterical, and when she got to me, she started singing, "Mrs. Brown has come to TOWN." That got a big laugh, of course, even though it's not the most original joke in the world.

Moral of the story - if you haven't voted yet, go do it! (And if you don't know for whom to vote, call me & I'll tell you. :) And I hope, L & M, you noticed that I didn't end that last phrase with a preposition.) Should you need more convincing, head over to Amy's, & read her thoughts on voting, too.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

No wonder our educational system is a mess. One night at the Ritz and a Social Studies teacher becomes an expert on the Lake Oconee lifestyle. Go place your Hillary or Obama vote and leave us alone.

Sarah B. B. said...

To the person who just commented above - I'd be interested to know how you found this post, and I apologize for my offense. However, what I did experience this weekend is not a lifestyle I would choose to lead, and I respectfully submit that I have the right to state that opinion, just as you have the right to disagree with me. If you have anything else to add, please email me personally. Thank you.

Monkey said...

Holy crap!! Who in the world left the HATER comment above?! I love that it's anonymous..AKA "I don't have the balls to leave my name on such a smart ass comment." Don't pick on Sarah bud, because she's got serious groupies backing her up. Sarah, email me and tell me who to vote for!

Sarah and Jack said...

Oh gee, how lovely. LOL

I proudly voted for Obama, anon. And I will do it again if I have the chance.

Lennye said...

SBB, you wild girl. First, I get my stalker in my cyber-classroom, now you get hate mail! Go figure...shows how little he really knows you! I had to reread your post to make the Ritz connection.

I too find the privilege to vote an honor.

K2daK said...

Craziness! What an odd comment...leave us alone? Didn't they visit your blog? Did you impress your opinion directly on the one person? Seriously crazy stuff!

Voting is such an honor, I was so excited the first year my vote counted-I look back now and laugh at my decision and took it as a lesson to really research (as much as one can) before I cast my vote.

Natalie said...

Wow--how lucky! I win a surprise craft, and YOU win a surprise freedom-of-speech hater!! :) As of a few hours ago, this household proudly became a united Obama for '08 household....how do you like THEM apples?!