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2/20/2008
Voting still gives me goosebumps
The American way. A day at the polls. $115 – or something like that. Now, I know no one who works at the polls for the money.- but it’s about $8 per hour for a fifteen hour day.
Working the polls is seeing your neighbors. Watching them grow older. Kids born yesterday coming in to register for their first election. Wow. Comforting the neighbor whose wife died just Saturday. Oh my… so sad. “Blessed are those who mourn – for they will be comforted…” We stood and hugged and talked in the middle of a rush of voters.
All kinds of Americans. Old folks, young folks. Rich folks, poorer folks. Smokers and gum chewers. Jackets closed (it’s cold!) and jackets flying open. Sweatshirts and fur coats. Bright – and not so bright.
Mostly a slow stream all day. Three of the ladies brought their knitting – I was really envious, trying instead to wade through a treatise on individualism and the ideologies of the conservative movement. I switched to Feast of Love by Charles Baxter. Next time it will be the knitting – or maybe the darning basket…
For the day, a sanctuary became a polling place – a small church where the pastor is a jack of all trades and I don’t think stops smiling ever. What a very nice man. He spent part of the day yesterday shoveling snow from the roof and the sidewalks. And kept the many mud mats straightened out so folks wouldn’t trip.
I’m mostly exhausted after a very, very long day. What a place this U.S. of A. is. People getting to the polls in zero-degree weather - because they can. And no soldier standing outside with a machine gun. We are very, very fortunate folks.
COMMENTS
That's an interesting perspective. I've been to Israel, Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Kuwait so I know what you mean by having guards with machine guns outside. I remember in Israel and Lebanon especially running into that all the time. They would have a machine gunned-guard outside every McDonalds, TGI Fridays, every mall, every single public place. Yes it's nice to live in such a great town Appleton because it's not so pleasant in other parts of the country although not as bad as Lebanon.
Stephen Flynn (Wed Feb 20 01:17:00 2008)
Yes, we are blessed and I hope more involved from now on. Imagine how many sacrifices people make in countries where because you did vote you could be killed. Imagine their courage to vote anyway and in percentages greater than we do.
dave allen (Wed Feb 20 06:58:41 2008)
Jo knows that I'm a poll worker too and go the whole day as well. Ours ended at 11 PM.
I do not work where any of my neighbors live and as a register of new voters it's more about getting as many done as I can.
I took forty winks of about 20 minutes during the whole day. We needed more room.
There was a train wreck or something that kept the turnout from being even larger.
By the end of it I was fried but still have been going back for next the one, doing the training etc.
Lon Ponschock (Wed Feb 20 12:54:33 2008)
Did you have apple pie for dessert? Perhaps home made pickles were for sale there? What a "slice" of America you were in yesterday.
Voting is a time honored tradition in the US. Imagine how many of our parents, grandparents etc had the opportunity to participate. You are a richer person because of your experience.
Dale (Wed Feb 20 08:01:47 2008)
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