Rain, Votes and America // November 7, 2006

On the bright side, I was delighted to vote. This is the first year of my life that I didn't vote a straight republican ticket. Its always such a good feeling to know that I have some measure of voice in my government.

Its so easy to get discouraged by the tenor of our government. Its so easy to let the obnoxious politics get in the way of what it means to be American. Voting one's conscience helps me get beyond that I think. It brings to mind a passage from Edward Everett Hale's, "The Man WIthout A Country." In it, the man without a country, Philip Nolan, is speaking to a young midshipman about loving his country.

But he could not stand it long; and getting Vaughan to say he might go back, he beckoned me down into our boat. As we lay back in the stern-sheets and the men gave way, he said to me: “Youngster, let that show you what it is to be without a family, without a home, and without a country. And if you are ever tempted to say a word or to do a thing that shall put a bar between you and your family, your home, and your country, pray God in his mercy to take you that instant home to his own heaven. Stick by your family, boy; forget you have a self, while you do everything for them. Think of your home, boy; write and send, and talk about it. Let it be nearer and nearer to your thought, the farther you have to travel from it; and rush back to it when you are free, as that poor slave is doing now. And for your country, boy,” and the words rattled in his throat, “and for that flag,” and he pointed to the ship, “never dream a dream but of serving her as she bids you, though the service carry you through a thousand hells. No matter what happens to you, no more matter who flatters you or who abuses you, never look at another flag, never let a night pass but you pray God to bless that flag. Remember, boy, that behind all these men you have to do with, behind officers, and government, and people even, there is the Country Herself, your Country, and that you belong to Her as you belong to your own mother. Stand by Her, boy, as you would stand by your mother, if those devils there had got hold of her to-day!”

"... your country..." Indeed it is.... My country.