The Silenced Minority

I am poking my chicken head out of my cage a little more on this post. I’m hopeful that my earlier posts will give my followers a better understanding of who I am so they’ll be kinder when I reveal this part of myself. I am coming out of the political closet. Yes, I am a liberal!....... a sorry liberal in most circles. I am a big time underground-screaming-in -private liberal.

For years I have watched what I’ve said in public. I’ve tried to keep a low profile, politically speaking. But I’ve been a coward of sorts. I didn’t stand up and defend President Clinton when the nation was crucifying him for accepting a private gesture of intimacy and then lying about it. It seemed everyone around me was outraged by his actions and ready to pounce on anyone that didn’t agree. So, I kept quiet. So, when a local congressman solicited a gesture of intimacy and lied about it, I thought “ah ha!” But then he was forgiven and re elected. So, I kept quiet.

When I owned the Children’s Center, I tried so hard not to let my personal political stands spill over onto the kids. I felt it was a family matter. I remember one general election when the children at Richardson were having a mock election. I went to pick up the children from school the day of their mock election. I was waiting in line and the first of the younger group were making their way to the van. I noticed one of the children was crying. I immediately got out of the van to comfort her. I escorted her to the van and inquired as to why she was crying. Had someone hurt her feelings? Had someone hit her? “What happened?” She couldn’t stop crying long enough to answer any of my questions. Finally, I told her that when she was ready to talk, I was here for her.

We made our way to the Center and it was obvious that she didn’t want to say anything in front of the other children. It seems this was going to be a delicate subject. We arrived at the Center and I escorted her to my office where we could talk in private. She went on to explain that they had mock elections at school today. “Yes, I know. So?” It seems that when they stopped to count the votes for Bush and Kerry, she was the only one that voted for Kerry. “Ok, that’s nice. So why is that bad?” I asked. “Well it wasn’t except that the kids started making fun of me and teasing me for not voting for Bush,” she told me. I let her talk and she went on to explain that the teasing got so bad that she started to cry in class. “What did your teacher do?” I asked. “She agreed with the class and she didn’t make them stop because she was for Bush, too.” I assured her that her vote was important even if it wasn’t the majority and that it was important that she stand up for her right to vote for whomever she wanted and sometimes in doing so, she was going to have to fight for that right and stand her ground.

I am taking my own advice. I have allowed myself to become the silenced minority. Not anymore. We need to open our minds and our hearts to other mindsets and other points of view so that we can meet somewhere in the middle and unite our country again.

“Now I know why the caged bird sings!