THE CHOICE OF INACTION


I first became aware of the voting process and its power during the Kennedy election. My mother, the daughter of an Irish Catholic, voted for Kennedy. My father did not. I still remember the hushed words between them. Most importantly, I remember the feelings behind the words that weren’t spoken at all.

Then it became my turn. But when I was finally of voting age, I didn’t. My family has always been knee deep in politics. I am, if we could warp time backwards, the great granddaughter of Thomas Jefferson and his daughter is my grandmother. We even have a family home in Williamsburg. More recently, my grandfather was a judge in Washington DC, served on numerous committees, and was also head of the boxing commission. So, the pressure was on. I felt such a responsibility and that responsibility was so great, that I did nothing.

Voting is a big responsibility and the stakes are high. You have to do some work, some research. I would need to be informed. What if I made a mistake? What would happen if I picked the wrong person? What if I were wrong?

I still remember my grandmother’s Presidential Campaign pin that declared, in rhinestones, “I Like Ike”. During my lifetime I have had the privilege to be a part of, in one way or another, some of the great events of our time. I remember the election of Kennedy and the fear of the Pope in the Whitehouse, the inception of the space program, which my father was a part of, and the proud moment when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. I stood in line at the local community center, with my family, for the Salk vaccine – the new cure for polio. My best friend's sister was stricken with the disease only months prior to its release. I have lived through a portion of the cold war, remember vividly “duck and cover” drills that were held in my elementary school, have suffered through every childhood disease that we now have vaccines for, remember the arrival of the Beatles and Elvis, and also knew of people that dug underground bomb shelters to protect them from nuclear annihilation.

The horror and anticipation of the Cuban missile crisis came and went and I can’t convey to you the sorrow of the nation when JFK was assassinated. With President Johnson I saw Vietnam and the civil rights riots. I had friends with brothers that never returned from Vietnam and I know exactly where I was when Martin Luther King was assassinated. The 60’s brought with it not only the turmoil of war, racial injustice and Kent State, but also the threat of rock and roll, reefer madness and the thought, by the establishment, that all hope in the youth was lost. The 70's saw Richard Nixon, or Tricky Dick as my grandmother so fondly referred to him, resign the presidency because of Watergate and his abuse of power. Things were bleak.

In more recent times President George Bush (the first one) presided over Desert Storm. I endured, with much embarrassment, the sex scandals that overshadowed the Clinton Presidency and was brought to tears with fear and anger on September 11, 2001 which subsequently led us into the war in Iraq.

Thinking back through the years, I have come to the realization that our country has never failed us. That no one single person, no one President, no one Congress, no one wrong vote, no one horrific event in history, has ever brought this country to her knees.

I have also come to the conclusion that picking the wrong person isn’t really the point. The point is that by not voting, by not being involved, I had been letting fear and apathy control me. Doing nothing is the same thing as giving permission. It is the same as saying yes, to whatever the situation.

This does not lessen the awesome responsibility of voting or the need to be informed; on the contrary. But, if the fear of “How do I know who to pick" and "what if I pick the wrong person” has you making the choice of inaction, then take solace in the fact that no one elected official can destroy our country. However, the millions who make the choice to do nothing year after year might.