Sunday Morning ~ Saving Our Voices
Cidanonetsa nkhumba sicidziwika. ~ No one knows what made the pig fat.
~ Chewa proverb
October 16, 2022
Hi Everyone,
As I sit and listen to the news of Iranian protests, I wonder what I’d do? Would I be brave enough to risk my life? I have engaged in protests, plenty of them. But I never worried I’d be killed. My admiration for the women in Iran is indescribable. And then I think, it could come to that here. If the current republican motivation continues, women will be as repressed and beaten down as women in Iran. How outrageous is this? Did the women of Iran see this coming? Did they go about their lives in the 60’s with mini skirts and University studies thinking they would be forbidden to cut their hair or show their skin within a few years? Did they think that was possible? And when it happened, did they think it would be sixty years before they’d take a stand? Were they just resigned to this life of repression? What was it about the death of one woman that was the tipping point? No one knows, but it is happening.
I’ve been thinking about what I can do to help for the mid term election. So much depends on this. For two weeks now I’ve been writing a letter to the editor thinking maybe if I could find the right words, it might make a difference. I finally decided to stop thinking and do it, because, no one knows what made the pig fat. I’ll put this out there and keep plodding. This is what I wrote:
To The Editor,
As I listen to the news about women protesting in Iran, fighting to regain rights they had sixty years ago, I am shaken, wondering how far we will go down that same road. The current trend in the republican party to strip away the rights of Americans is frightening. But there is a way to stop it. On November 8 we must vote Democrat all the way down the ballot, from U.S. Senator to dog catcher; our lives depend on it. This mid-term election is critical. We have a looming national crisis with women’s rights in jeopardy. By voting overwhelmingly Democratic down the ballot we can save future generations from facing what Iranian women now face: risking their lives to have a voice. Voting Democrat in local races is critical to preserve election integrity. In national races it will preserve human rights for women, low wage earners, school children, immigrants, minorities, LGBTQs, and transgenders. If you want the right to earn a living wage, vote Democrat. If you want the right to access to health care, vote Democrat. If you want the right to marry whom you choose, vote Democrat. If you want the right to make decisions about your reproduction, vote Democrat. If you want to make a sustainable energy future for this planet, vote Democrat. If you want to send your children to school without fear of gun violence, vote Democrat. All the way down the ballot, we must preserve Democratic majorities to preserve these rights. Our democratic system, flawed and imperfect as it is, allows us the opportunity to have a voice. We can make it better if we engage. Retaining majorities in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate is the only way we will ensure a woman’s right to choose and everyone’s right to vote. This election is our chance to prevent the further stripping of human rights in this country. It is the only way right now. Please VOTE! And when you do, VOTE Democrat!
Linda Robinson, CNM
Bar Harbor, Maine
If anyone feels this message is useful, please use it for your own newspapers. Message, message, message. It might help.
Love to all,
Linda