This election cycle has truly been one for the record books - and seems to dovetail perfectly with this Twilight Zone of a year we call 2020. Several Saturdays ago, like many nights since the COVID pandemic took hold here in the US, I was out on the couch trying to get at least four hours of sleep - a luxury in 2020 that I cannot seem to get in my room (I might get two hours there at the most on a good night). With Planet Earth laying its soft media glow across the room in the night, the steady soothing voice of the British narrator gently wafting to my tired and 2020-war-torn ears, laying under the warm green comforter that is always like a comforting hug of my childhood from my Mom and her best friend Aggie although both are so very far away - I could often lull off for at least an hour or two surrounded by my furry pack.
It was the weekend Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away. I must have dozed for at least a little while, with my brain in overdrive, as I literally rolled over while opening my eyes to the dat, grabbed the notebook app on my phone, and began talking/typing the thoughts below (unedited from that morning's mind musings):
So many of life's most important lessons are taught to us through childhood stories and children's literature. In fact, entire scholarly careers have been built around understanding the correlation between children's stories and cultural literacy, and that many eupahmisms used in news media are lost if one does not know the childhood textual reference. But I digress as this is much more intense than intended for this musing ...
Remember Dr. Suess and his Whos in Whoville?
Whether you were a fan of the Grinch or Horton, they both have something in common - Whos in Whoville. In both stories- down in Whoville, at critical times in their life stories, they lifted their voices and were heard.
In How Grinch that Stole Christmas, it was a chorus singing as the sun rose on a new day. Despite arising to find all they owned gone - their voices rose up and they were heard all the way up to the top is the distant mountain- Mount Crumpit. It was such a shock to the Grinch at his perch on Mount Crumpit because the Grinch thought he had beaten them. He wanted their spirits to be broken, yet they joined hands and sang out - and they were heard.
In Horton Hears a Who, no one but Horton believed The Whos existed. The Whos entire world was about to be plummeted into nonexistence- a vat of boiling oil. The Whos tried everything so they could to be heard. Despite all their yelling and hollering and hooting and banging and clanging - their voices still were not heard. And then- one final Who- a young Who who always felt he couldn’t make a difference, finally lifted his voice to join the cacophony and be heard. ONE TINY YOP - a yop that reverberated and broke through all the barriers- barriers that could not be broken until that single final voice joined in - and SAVED THEM ALL.
It saved the nonbelievers in Horton's from taking millions of lives unknowingly, riddling them with guilt and shame when they realized the errors of their ways. It saved all The Who’s in Whoville that didn’t think they needed to speak up and be heard - that they could just go on living their lives ignorant of the world beyond themselves. That ONE YOP made all the difference in their life and death, and SAVED THEM ALL.
To all of you who have given up in things changing. To the younger generation that feels like whatever you do it’s not going to make a difference so why bother. To all of you that say you are not crazy about either candidate so you will just sit this one out and see what happens. To those of you thinking, “I am just one person. The odds are stacked against me - my ONE VOTE can’t make a difference .... “
Remember!
Remember that single YOP.
YOU can BE THAT YOP.
YOU can BE THE DIFFERENCE- the one that changed how this story we are currently living ends.
Vote.
Vote early.
VOTE LIKE YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT because IT DOES.
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