There will be all sorts of crazy stories today about voting and polls and then the results will be as predicted, or not at all as predicted, and they might go your way, or not.
There will still be battles to be fought - for continued civil rights, for fair practices, for justice and for the environment - no matter which ‘side’ wins today.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s important who wins, but whoever does, they won’t be fixing or breaking anything by tomorrow. We will still need to participate in social and civic projects, organizations, and campaigns for as long as there are people on Earth. The government can only do so much - for good or for bad. The ultimate responsibility and power is ours whenever we choose to exercise it.
And for today, we can still celebrate: our freedom to vote and to choose, the hard work and dedication of poll workers, the women who organized the Seneca Falls Women’s Convention of 1848 who began the organized campaign to (eventually, 72 years later), get women the vote in the U.S., the volunteers who have been helping people register to vote and who have been offering rides to the polls, the civil rights activists throughout history, and the former and current local and national representatives who fight for the rights and voting access for every citizen no matter their color, religion, sex, wealth, property-owning status, or race.
_____
On a slightly different note, I am still on my travels about the East Coast and while there is tons to share, I will not be posting daily for the next 10 days. There will be a few posts scattered through the next two weeks, but not every day. For all our modernity, internet access has been much spottier than we thought, and it’s been a bit tough to stay connected. I hope you’ll forgive a couple of sporadic weeks. Then we will be back properly for the week of Thanksgiving! (how crazy is it that we’re already close to that?!)
Meanwhile, here is a quick pic of a few wild ponies of Assateague. How cool is that we have a protected National Seashore with wild ponies (among many other common and rare species) and the ability to share some of their space for a while. There are so many amazing places in this country and world, and some of them are just around the corner from us. If this trip is reminding me of anything, it’s to explore more - both near and far.