Yup You Really Can

Given the conflicts perpetrated in the name of Freedom for the People, we find it perplexing that, after all the energies and deaths sacrificed over the centuries in the pursuit this ideal, those societies enjoying the benefits of its acquisition can be so cavalier about its upkeep. We found the following tidbit in a diary. The diary entry is dated October, 18 2005.
Salutations,
Euroswydd, Reiki Clown and Mort.

Yup You Really Can

For all the people out there, the “little” people who because they don’t think their one vote counts don’t bother going to the polls on Election Day I have two words for you--Rosa Parks. Now I know that she wasn’t involved in gaining women the right to vote, all she did was quietly, firmly refuse to give her front of the bus seat up to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama on Dec. 1, 1955.
I realize that most of today’s younger people may not fully comprehend the significance of the action taken by this 42 year old seamstress. After all that was so long ago. Where’s the relevance to today’s issues? Fed up with the derogatory treatment meted out by those judging worth and character based solely on skin color, she took an unprecedented step or seat, if you will. She chose to do something about the injustices being perpetrated against people of color instead of complaining but taking no action to prevent or terminate it.
This diminutive woman-she was 5”1” tall-who one of the “little” people, had no name recognition, no opulence, no political or business ties of note, none of the qualities deemed necessary to be capable of bringing about massive societal change. No encompassing influential capacity whatsoever by the standards of those who complaining bitterly about this and that, continue to rail against their perceived impotence to facilitate change.
As history has shown a very ‘ordinary’ woman by quietly declaring herself worthy of humane treatment and unwilling to live a life ruled by fear brought about a social revolution and in so doing showed the power that one determined person, unwilling to put up with an injustice, can wield. Her act caused public attention to be aroused, indignation to flourish and more and more people to actively protest the heinous treatment they and their fellow human beings were undergoing. She started the ball rolling and while it still needs to continue rolling there have been many positive changes since that day in 1955.
How you ask does this relate to a single vote being cast? Think of it this way…if one ordinary person can start a social revolution why can’t a single vote change the course of history? Whether that one vote becomes part of a landslide or the deciding vote in an election, that one vote is your active voice declaring your message of choice. It’s your way of sitting on the front of the bus and refusing to budge, no one can take the power of your vote away from you unless, by not exercising it, you allow them to.