Today I got this email:
Dear Helen,
I found your blog today thanks to a friend. I need your help! My grandparents (both in their 80’s) ripped up their ballots this week when they received them in the mail. (We’re in a state where we mail in our ballots) They generally vote democratic but evidently didn’t want to vote for an African American. I’m embarrassed that they are so racist! Is there anything I can tell them to convince them that they need to vote (for Barack)? Should I bother or maybe it’s a lost cause? I thought maybe since you are of their generation, you could help me.
Thank you,
Jennifer
Well Jennifer, my first instinct was to tell them to pull their heads out of their asses and start living in the 21st century. Life is too short to be hanging on to stuff we learned when we were young and didn’t know any better. But I remember those days. We didn’t know any better and some of us cling to yesterday out of fear and ignorance.
So, as an old lady who has been around the block of few times, here is what I think: Sometimes elections can be about great things… about changing the world. Think Lincoln. Think FDR. I started out in this election supporting Hillary Clinton because I believed our country needed a women’s point of view in the Oval Office. I truly believe that women approach education, war, healthcare, the environment, poverty, etc. differently. Of course then I met Sarah Palin and realized that some women are just bitches who only want to change their wardrobe and your religious freedoms.
So tell your grandparents this instead: Imagine what the world looks like on November 5th if America elects Barack Obama for President. We will have finally closed a chapter on American politics and moved into the 21st Century realizing that hatred, fear and bigotry is a waste of time and energy – both precious commodities of limited quantity. What respect we would get from around the globe. Why wouldn’t your grandparents want to be a part of such a historic moment? Why wouldn’t any of us want to be part of this historic moment – a moment when we profoundly change the world for the better?
But remember we grew up in a different time. We grew up during a time when this country didn’t understand the depths of its hatred. Don’t blame them. They don’t know any better. It is a part of who they are. But if they ignore you, you have my permission to do what I do when Harold doesn’t listen to me. Put laxatives in their pudding.
Thanks for stopping by Jennifer. I mean it. Really.
шокер
электрошокер
By: tariely on March 15, 2010
at 7:21 AM
Gosh darnit (wink), they tore up their ballots!
By: DogGirl on November 2, 2008
at 6:12 PM
Helen, your blogs are great. I was wondering if you ever thought of something thats been on my mind a lot lately.
The GOP “god fearing” “pro-american” “country-first” ticket has something, deeply disturbingly, in common with islamic terrorists. These terrorists also used “God” as a reason for attacking innocent people. Now Ms Palin says the war in Iraq is gods work, or gods command, whatever she said. Isnt that exactly what the terrorists believed when they attacked us on 9/11? I am not suggesting that the GOP are terroroists but when I hear GOD invoked as a REASON to kill thousands of innocent people (whether americans or civilians in other countries), my only thought is that we need to make sure these wack jobs dont get elected.
GOD is about faith. The level of ones faith is a personal business. Separate church and state? Yes I agree. Why should war be any different? Why is it un godly to have an abortion and godly to kill innocents in a war?
Just becasue I am a Hindu means I am not a god fearing american? I went to a convent where I prayed in church everyday for 12 years of my life. To this day if I see a church anywhere, I always go in an kneel and say a thank you for all the blessings in my life. Compared to that I have visited a Hindu temple maybe once a year, if that.
Am I any less American?
By: pooja on October 30, 2008
at 11:37 AM
My niece is married to a black man, one of my sisters is married to a man who has yet to be able to immigrate from China, a niece was married to a man whose parents moved here from Iran to escape the tyranny there and her 2 kids are 1/2 Iranian. I live in middle-America. My husband and his family are Republican and I’m voting for Senator Obama. Sarah Palin cannot cannot be VP and/or the incumbent.
By: Sherri on October 30, 2008
at 10:53 AM
This blog rocks! I cannot get over how insightful this woman is and I love reading her posts. Power to the People!
By: Sherri on October 30, 2008
at 10:47 AM
Helen,
I love you blog and the way you call things as they are. Keep up the keen observations and you great wit.
P.S. Your blog traffic is amazing!! Congratulations.
Michael
By: Michaelinnorfolk on October 29, 2008
at 5:59 PM
Helen,
Just wanted to say, “You rock!”
Sincerely,
Susan K. Morrow
By: Susan K. Morrow on October 29, 2008
at 5:54 PM
helen & margaret – AND jennifer -
if you haven’t seen this yet, i really recommend it. it is priceless and, even if it doesn’t work
, it’s a laugh.
i’ve got it with the “book cover” at http://www.howlstudios.com too. as well as links to helen’s blog!
peace out from texas
-s
By: howlgirl on October 29, 2008
at 10:47 AM
You’re too much!!!
My mom admitted to me very recently that she was taught to be racist when she was little but here I am, mixed race. She said she stuggled all her life to get over the racism that was instilled in her at a young age and she’s so proud of herself for kicking that racism to the curb. She was leery of Obama a little (still). But she looked past gender (she thinks Palin’s a big ragin’ b*tch too) and she looked past skin color… she voted early and she voted Obama.
By: Lorax on October 28, 2008
at 10:59 AM
[...] usual, the new-old blogger, Helen, puts it oh so well in responding to this situation. Check out her blog from the other day, have a chuckle, and then shed a tear or two that we still have to deal with [...]
By: Bradley effect = Barbarian 101 « Notes from Lake ZigZag on October 28, 2008
at 10:42 AM
Helen….you are spot on AGAIN!!….I can’t get enough of you…
funtowatch you are so right, just today 2 skin heads were arrested for plotting to assasinate him…good lord, keep him safe from these nuts…
Obama/Biden 08!!
By: Patricia on October 27, 2008
at 10:22 PM
HEADS UP: John H. Johns, a retired brigadier general who has known McCain since studying together at the National War College in 1973, had this to say about McCain: “His hawkish views now are very dangerous. He puts military at the top of foreign policy rather than diplomacy, just like George Bush does. he and other neoconservatives are dedicated to converting the world to democracy and free markets, and they want to do it through the barrel of a gun.” (as quoted in RS, 10/26/08)
By: Maven on October 27, 2008
at 8:35 PM
No matter what you think of Barack Obama, you have to give it to him for standing up against all odds to be president. He must get hundreds of hate mails and death threats daily and still remains poised to be president.
i really admire his courage.
By: funtowatch on October 27, 2008
at 6:50 PM
http://drbuzzieboombatz.wordpress.com/
I thought that appeared automatically. I’m learning.
By: drbuzzieboombatz on October 27, 2008
at 5:37 PM
Wow CO Almost Native…I thought the SAME thing about McCain’s “navigational” skills…LOOK OUT! LOL!
I want Obama to win the election ASAP, but some of this stuff is toooo funny and I can’t resist making my little cartoon replies on my blog!
Please check it out for a giggle or two or ten! LMAO!
By: drbuzzieboombatz on October 27, 2008
at 5:35 PM
nextgen08 and jennifer-
This is way down the list of comments, but I told my well-loved, but thick-headed stepmom, who argued with me over McCain: I will never vote for a candidate who is in favor of a war, but refuses to pay for it now- it is immoral to pass these costs on to your grandchildren. That made her think and shut her up. (I’m not sure it changed her vote, but it made her think- and that’s a good thing.)
By: CO Almost Native on October 27, 2008
at 4:35 PM
Joseph-
You are voting for McCain because of his military experience? He crashed five (yes, five) expensive military jets! Anyone else would have been drummed out of the AF- except his dad and granddad had pull. (My very experienced military friends have explained this- and, no, they are not voting for MCain). He was one of the first to jump on the Iraq war bandwagon. That kind of experience we can do without.
Take a chance on the future- vote Obama.
By: CO Almost Native on October 27, 2008
at 4:27 PM
Jennifer,
They had a comedian on the radio here in MI. When asked how did he feel about race being part of the issue? He said “Americans, if you don’t like the black side of him vote for the white side of him.” I thought it was humerous yet very true!
By: Go Obama on October 27, 2008
at 10:58 AM