On the morning of 6th November 2012 I woke up blurry eyed from a significant lack of sleep and dragons in my belly, I was nervous, excited, concerned and well....I was hungry. It was breakfast time. My son had the day off of school for Election Day and to get my mind off of things, AFTER I VOTED, we went to breakfast and then we went shopping a bit, just spending time together not spending money. Through all of it I was praying, and I don't do that lightly, I try not to annoy God with frivolous pleading but I'm sure he got sick of me curled up around what passes as his/her feet yesterday begging for President Obama to be re-elected! Anyway as I voted I heard people around me all talking about how they voted for Mitt Romney and I'm sorry but I just shook my head and wondered silently how they could vote against their own best interests. I live in a very working class neighbourhood, nobody is well off here, not many are even middle/middle class. Many have more than one job or are on unemployment, we're all hurting on one level or another. It's a very racially mixed neighbourhood and I started paying attention, it was NOT only the white people saying that they're voting for Romney! I seriously was without hope for a bit after that, even my son, who is extremely politically savvy and aware at 14, was utterly sickened by the way these people obviously bought into every single lie the right wing conservatives told. I began wondering if the reasoning behind voting against what is in their best interest is just a simple case of wishing they were rich enough to be Republican or was it something else? Especially the couple of women of colour who were voting for Romney. To vote for 2 men to run the country who want to take away every decision a woman should always be allowed to make is just....well it just makes no bloody sense to me!
I can honestly say now that I was scared, for my life, my liberty and my ability to do for my son as I have been. I could not imagine living in a country where men made all the decisions for my body and every woman as well. I could not imagine living in a country where rich people got richer on the backs of middle class American's and laughed and laughed. I could not imagine living in a country where the President had said such horrible things about nearly half of the population. I could not imagine living in a country where a man who lied brazenly morning, noon and night and got away with it *until those last 2 debates anyway*. I most assuredly could not imagine living in a country where I had to look at the television and saw a rich man and his rich wife looked down their noses at me and mine, trying to whither us with a steely glare. First of all I'd have gone a bit crazy 'cos Lizzy don't roll like that and really, after 8 years of Bush there was simply no way I could imagine going back to all that and getting out alive. Now I don't have to worry about those things for at least 4 more years. I can sleep at night knowing that there is a man in the White House who does care, who does do thing that will make middle class America better and who will broaden the middle class with people who were looking up, working hard and will finally make it. My son will go to University, he will succeed and he already thanks the President for this. In a bit more than a year I'll have affordable healthcare. I will be able at 47 years old have my first mammogram and get back to my gynie who I haven't seen in over 10 years now. I will be able to get moles removed that I know are either cancerous or on the brink of being cancer. I will be able to get my thyroid back under control, lose weight, exercise and have it mean something, get healthy again and not worry about having a heart attack. I will know that if I DO have a heart attack I won't be turned away for being uninsured. I will get the best care from the best hospitals and doctors. I will no longer feel like a third world citizen.
There are so many reasons to be grateful that President Obama has been re-elected, the mentioned are but a few, but I must add that I'm grateful that I will be seeing his beautiful smile for the next 4 years as well and my mad crush can continue! I look forward now and wonder who will run in 2016, on both sides. My son will register for the vote early that year, because he'll turn 18 at the end of October, because he is excited to finally be part of the process, and he will cast his vote for the person he believes in the most. It may not be the same person I'll vote for. I wanted Hillary in '08, he wanted Obama, he won and I've supported him ever since but still, to live in a country where I can vote for one person and my son for another? That's awesome! That is what this country was founded on!
I'm listening and reading some very sour grapes from the right wing and I honestly understand it all because if I have to be honest? If President Obama would have lost? I'd have unplugged myself from the net for a very long time, until I could handle their smugness. So because it went my way I understand their disappointment, I accept their sour grapes, but I cannot help and stay quiet when they say ridiculous or racist things and oh boy have I see the ugly head of racism rearing again this day! I don't understand racism and I will not stand for it, I will not be quiet when I come across it. Not for anything or anyone. I've told off family for racial insensitive or down right racist "jokes" and opinions so why would I let strangers off the hook for the same thing?
So yeah Lizzy's happy, Lizzy is no longer living on a ledge waiting to jump. Lizzy is happy and content and grateful.
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