A Message for all women
(I copied this from an email.... thought it was useful)
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THIS IS MOVING. HOW QUICKLY WE FORGET.....IF WE EVER KNEW......
WHY WOMEN SHOULD VOTE
This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.
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(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a
hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a
tube down her throat and poured liquid into her
until she vomited. She was tortured like this for
weeks
until word was smuggled out to the press.
So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote
this year because- -why, exactly? We have carpool
duties? We have to get to work?
Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening
of HBO's new movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a
graphic depiction of the battle these women waged
so that I could pull the curtain at the polling booth and
have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the
reminder.
All these years later, voter registration is still my
passion. But the actual act of voting had become
less personal for me, more rote.
Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation
than a privilege. Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied
women's history, saw the HBO movie, too. When
she stopped by my desk to talk about it, she
looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought
kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,'
she said. 'What would those women think of the
way I use, or don't use, my right to vote? All of
us take it for granted now, not just younger
women, but those of us who did seek to learn.'
The right to vote, she said, had become valuable
to her 'all over again.'
HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish
all history, social studies and government teachers
would include the movie in their curriculum I want
it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere
else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual
idea of socializing, but we are not voting in the
numbers that we should be, and I think
a little shock therapy is in order.
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his
cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare
Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently
institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the
doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and
brave. That didn't make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in
women is often mistaken for insanity.'
Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all
the women you know.
We need to get out and vote and use this right
that was fought so hard for by these very
courageous women. Whether you vote democratic,
republican or independent party - remember to
vote.
History is being made.
