Was it worth the Price?

So I got a couple emails that really made me think, and rather than forwarding them I thought I would post them. I want you women to think about voting... do you do it or are you to busy with kids to get to the polls? Is it a right that we take for granted, a privilege we have forgotten about? And our freedom...something we just deserve because we were born here, or a privilege that we have to defend? This is kind of long but I think it was worth it so take a moment to read through this and watch the short clip at the end.

This the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.

Remember, it was not until 1920 that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking for the vote.
(Lucy Burns)

And by the end of the night, they were barely alive. Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of 'obstructing sidewalk traffic.' They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping for air.
(Dora Lewis)

They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate, Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack. Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging, beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917, when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right to vote. For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

(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. (you can read about it here)

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?

HBO has a 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.

As I read this post and thought about it, something kept coming back to me,'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use, my right to vote?'

It's interesting to to know that Alice Paul was called insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to know that 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.' 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.

Made you think -huh-

Now this next is a clip from a soldier who returned from war. He did it to endorse John McCain, I want you to forget about that and just listen to what he has to his message. Now I couldn't get it to upload so click HERE and it will take you to the clip. (It's less than 2 minutes) Keep watching this man as he walks away....

I love living in this great country, and I have so much respect for the lives that were lost for the right I have to vote, for the right I have to enjoy the freedoms that I do. Please take the time to get to know the canadets, what they stand for, your vote counts!