Women have only had the right to vote in the US for 96 years. The19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution gave the women the Right to Vote on June 4th, 1920.
This world has been run by men since the beginning. The record is mixed, but overall, it has left us with a very violent, authoritarian, confrontational, male dominated society. All you have to do is look at what women still have to go through in 2016.
We have a woman of impeccable experience and qualifications, who has spent her life, against unimaginable odds, preparing to be The first woman President. At every turn, she has had to overcome obstacles put in place by small dick, small minded, fearful men.
This is pretty much the same as what women have gone through since the beginning.
My wife and I were having a chat this morning and she was reminding me about the suffering she faced in life. My wife grew up in a culture and a situation where she was convinced that most of anything that went wrong was, somehow, her fault. A very small, fearful man made her feel that way. A man afraid to be a man. A man afraid of accepting his responsibility for whatever situations they encountered. A man who refused to respect her dignity. What a terrible burden to carry. And it is a burden that many women carry, in many cultures, many countries and many religions to this day.
I was raised by a very strong woman. My Mother grew up during the depression, which, for many, would have enough to defeat them.
Add onto it, the fact that she, and a few of her many sisters, were sexually abused by their father, who was an alcoholic run around who was rarely home. And onto it, add the fact that she was only a teen ager when her mother died, forcing her to move from house to house, family to family, relative to relative.
Although my Mother was one year old when women got “The Right” to vote, ultimately my Mother was not “given rights”. She took them.
Six years before I was born, my Mother met my dad while hitchhiking through the South Seattle neighborhoods between Rainier Valley and Foster. He stopped his delivery truck and picked up two very pretty young women. He eventually ended up dating one of them….and fell in love with the other. Unfortunately, three years later, after Pearl Harbor, he went into the Navy to serve as an Aircraft Mechanic in the South Pacific islands maintaining and repairing Grumman Corsairs.
In my Mother’s ongoing desperation to have a family and life of her own, and being that Mervin was overseas serving his country, she married a man by the name of Robert Nelson. He was a very decent man with a good job, respected in the community of friends and relatives. He was unable to serve in the military because he suffered from diabetes. They were married, and had their only child together, my sister Patti.
Robert and my Mother could not have been more different. He was reserved, a late starter, slept late, worked late, stayed up late. He also had the dream of becoming a member of a Swing Band, playing both the trombone and stand up base. Hence, he spent many nights away from home……like her father.
My Mother, on the other hand, was a woman who rose early, very structured and who was totally dedicated to giving her family the home she never had. She was a home body who did everything in the home, from cooking, baking, canning, painting, growing a garden, cleaning the house, making clothes for herself and her kids. They were not a good fit.
In 1945, the war ended. Mervin came home.
I am not sure how things happened from that point on. Most of it went to their graves with them, but, evidently they seem to have had an affair, because, although she was married at the time, all be it unhappily, in 1946, I became Mervin Thomas’ first born natural child. His first son of three. It is very evident, from her life, that Mervin was always the love of her life. It was not long after that Robert and her divorced and not long after that, my Mother married my Dad.
My Mother had every reason to fail but never did. She continued to provide a safe, comfortable, loving, peaceful home for all of us. She was selfless. She did what she knew was right with love, tenderness and a strong sense of duty. In response to whatever problems we may have been having. she always told us “Fix it.” Family and raising a family was her sole focus.
My wife is so much like my Mother. She is compassionate, loving and caring, with a strong sense of duty and bound and determine to “Fix It”…one of the reasons I love her so much. It was the fact that she was obviously a good Mom that convinced me that she would be a good wife. I was right.
This is one of the reasons I loved Michael Moore’s new documentary, “Trumpland”. He was talking about women like my mom. She was a strong Democrat. She was a feminist…who chose as her profession to be a wonderful, strong woman….and Head of House. A mom……with all her heart and soul.
I know, if she were alive today, she would love voting for Hillary. This fact makes it even more significant that I support and vote for Hillary, not only a strong woman, but a great Mom. She would be proud.
