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11/02/2004 04:02:52 PM · #76 |
YES and just sent my wife up to do the same. It is her first time.
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11/02/2004 04:08:12 PM · #77 |
This is why we should always vote as free citizens. I'll be voting in an hour. Van
Demonstrate support for troops by voting
by Joseph L. Galloway
WASHINGTON - There are nearly 140,000 American troops in Iraq. An
additional 17,000 in Afghanistan. More still in Bosnia and Kosovo and
Guantanamo and on our bases and ships around the world.
Some suggest that military votes may be the key to a very close presidential
election this year. Some say that fearfully. I say if that comes to pass,
our country's future could not be in better hands than those of the young
men and women putting their lives on the line protecting that future.
If you doubt that, read the following carefully. It is an e-mail essay,
written by a young woman, an enlisted U.S. Army Reserve soldier from Duluth,
Minn., now serving in Iraq. We reached her by e-mail, after a friend passed
the essay to us, and she agreed to its publication if we not reveal her
name, only the facts of her present duty. What she has to say resonates as
our country prepares to vote next week.
___
"I got my ballot the other day, and it was a relief to find that it didn't
have any blood stains on it. You expect there to be some sign of the effort
it took - the lives it cost - to accomplish that delivery in a combat zone.
With all the hits we've been taking lately, that was all the cautious good
news one could find. There was no sign of what happened to the soldiers who
died getting the mail here. It's almost like it didn't happen.
"I left the post office, and looked up at the palace on the hill: Saddam's
palace, now a place where soldiers from several countries are bumbling
around, trying to bring democracy to this place. Some of them have only
recently acquired it themselves in their countries. One of the most
touching things I've ever seen was the prime minister of Bulgaria, tearing
up on TV as his country was inducted into NATO.
"Democracy is one of those things that people expect when they see that
palace on the hill. They want it to be big and shiny, with trumpets and
armies and flags. Instead, I think of that man, trying not to weep in front
of the world. I had never really thought before about what it means to be a
citizen of a democracy, because it's always been there for me.
"It shouldn't be a big thing, this concept of freedom. That palace on the
hill has gorgeous marble but very crudely carved. From that vantage point
one could almost see Saddam's eyes, looking for enemies. Yet the people of
Iraq still smile at us, offer us tea, smiles, handshakes, able, even in this
war, of trying to find some common ground. These are people who hope for
freedom, for self-determination. For safety.
"Some people say, 'My country, love it or leave it,' and insist that that's
patriotism. It's not. These are the summer soldiers of our history, loving
only what is easy to love, accepting only what is easy to accept, and hating
anything that's difficult to comprehend. They love the big and the brash,
and miss out on the small details. They see only the surface of the water,
never the depths, and in its surface they see only their own reflection.
"They say they love their country, but they only love the good parts. Their
love is like a saying of my father's: 'Cold indeed is the love blown out by
one gust of wind.' They love her only as long as they can believe she's
perfect.
"Others love her not because she's perfect but because of what she tries to
be, what she tries to overcome. Love her as a whole, and you cherish her
all the more, for her potential and her efforts - and her vulnerability.
Love her as she is, for what she might become, and you might be able to see
potential elsewhere, too, in the love other people have for their countries,
for their faith, for their culture.
"Democracy, like any virtue, can be promoted through small acts and
gestures. Its central premise is that every person's voice should be heard,
and that concept never really hit me till I stood in front of that post
office with the dust of a hundred histories on my boots and wrote my
candidate's name on my ballot. My handwriting was messy and blotchy. The
heat does something to the ink. It was perfectly ordinary - one pays bills
in this humble fashion every day. And yet there was that building high
above me, the historic river flowing by, the ruins nearby. It was a small
act in extraordinary circumstances.
"People ask how we can do the job we do here, undertake the risks we do?
It's simple: It is for moments such as this. How often do you get to say
that you voted in Iraq? But it's more than that. We know that we're
preserving that right for other people, too. As long as some people are
free, they can offer hope to those who are not.
"I took an oath to defend the Constitution, and to me that means its
principles. Once you recognize that you're free, you also have to recognize
that other people are not, and that until they are, you can't really be free
either. Freedom carries with it that burden. It's not enough to be a
beacon, a symbol, a hope. You have to act to uphold it.
"I suspect the sunshine patriots Thomas Paine spoke about got a distinct
jolt when they realized that freedom doesn't mean disconnection from other
people - in fact, it means the exact opposite. Free people are linked to
those who aren't free. No one can really be free till everyone is free.
"There's something about being a Reservist that makes this especially vivid.
We throw our fates to chance. We put aside our individuality, our homes,
our jobs, and we take up someone else's life and hopes. We feel part of a
larger purpose, a larger cause. And we like it.
"People ask why we do the job we do, and there's an answer: Because of you.
The act of taking up that banner links us all together, even if you never
take up a weapon. Freedom doesn't mean isolation; it means connection. We
have a common desire. There are lots of different battles. Some happen at
home: some happen on foreign soil.
"People ask how they can support us. It's very simple. Vote. I don't care
who you vote for, I just care that you do. Our deaths, our injuries, our
sacrifices are all payment for that concept of giving people a voice. We've
given you a gift. We've paid for it with our blood.
"People ask how they can support us. Vote! Take up the banner for all the
people, living and dead, who fought for this right. Do your part. Remember
them. Remember us. Vote!"
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE
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11/02/2004 04:10:09 PM · #78 |
gotta love slashdot:
>> text "BUSH" or "KERRY" to USAIDOL and cast your vote!
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11/02/2004 04:10:39 PM · #79 |
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11/02/2004 04:10:53 PM · #80 |
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11/02/2004 04:16:16 PM · #81 |
| yes....I got a chance to vote this afternoon |
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11/02/2004 04:19:08 PM · #82 |
Originally posted by Spazmo99:
Yes, twice |
Oooh, do tell! :)
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11/02/2004 04:20:49 PM · #83 |
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11/02/2004 04:24:13 PM · #84 |
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11/02/2004 04:27:47 PM · #85 |
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11/02/2004 04:39:49 PM · #86 |
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11/02/2004 04:40:53 PM · #87 |
| ...leaving work right now to go vote! :o) |
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11/02/2004 04:45:29 PM · #88 |
| You betcha! 5:55 AM, and there was A LINE !! I was 32nd in that line. |
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11/02/2004 04:50:23 PM · #89 |
Hell, yes or heck yeah :P
Message edited by author 2004-11-02 16:50:57. |
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11/02/2004 05:02:41 PM · #90 |
| Yep! Started not to because I couldn't make up my mind but then decided I should so I did. |
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11/02/2004 05:02:56 PM · #91 |
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11/02/2004 05:05:28 PM · #92 |
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11/02/2004 05:06:01 PM · #93 |
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11/02/2004 05:11:08 PM · #94 |
UPDATE as of 5:06pm
YES - 80%
NO - 20% |
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11/02/2004 05:12:04 PM · #95 |
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11/02/2004 05:13:25 PM · #96 |
Hmmm... Got an "I Voted Today" sticker on my chest! Must have ...
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11/02/2004 05:16:15 PM · #97 |
| Yes - Last week by absentee ballot |
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11/02/2004 05:22:30 PM · #98 |
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11/02/2004 05:28:47 PM · #99 |
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11/02/2004 05:38:04 PM · #100 |
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