Our kids have been so into elections this year. Their grandfather is heavily involved in town and state politics, and a lot of people stop by his house for discussion and advice during the day and evening, and Marin and Emmy are often present to observe this. Additionally, the kids can read now, so they see all the names and referendum questions on road signs and they pepper us with questions about it.
So fast forward to this morning. I had the TV on at breakfast (something I NEVER do) in order to see the election results. The kids asked why the TV is on and I explained everybody voted yesterday and today we learn what the new rules will be.
Emmy starts in with
- What about Tracy, did she win?
- What about Noel, did he win?
- What about the farm? Will the people buy the farm? (referendum on a land conservation trust)
- Can two mommies get married now? (the gay marriage referendum)
And on and on and on. The kids have a remarkable memory, especially for names.
As I was about to lose my patience with the unending questions (while trying to pay attention to the TV so I would have the information to actually answer the questions), it occurred to me that here are two kids who will be voting here in less than 15 years, who may never have had an opportunity to vote if they had stayed in their rural village. In fact, they may not have even known the concept of voting, the democratic process, and one person/one vote equality.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment