Let Your Voice Be Heard

Source: MS Clipart

Today is a very important day for us as Americans.  Today is the day for all those 18 and over to get out and  let your voice be heard through your vote!  I can't begin to stress how important it is to not be content to just sit home on your bum.  When you don't vote, you're gambling not only with your future but your family's future as well.

Today, we're not just voting for who our next president should be.  We're voting on congressional representatives, policies and some states are voting on gay marriage.  I urge you to take a few minutes to read up on each candidate and vote for the one whose platform you feel in your heart is best.  Voting is good but an informed vote is better.

I voted early and I am glad that my voice was heard.  I'm blessed to have had my kids there to witness the process. Exercising their right to vote is definitely something I want them to be passionate about it.  We love to look at the Civil Rights Movement as being something that happened way back when.  However, if you think about it's not that far back.  Heck, in some ways we're still fighting for equality.

My women certainly know how hard it is to be considered equal.  We're constantly being referred to as the weaker sex or too emotional or too soft.  Well, ladies make sure you speak up at the polls.  I'm hoping the next time we vote for President, we'll be electing our very first female president into office.  Yes, I'm keeping hope alive on that!

There's just so much riding on your votes.  There are so many people who sacrificed their lives, safety and families to get us to this day.  Please, please, please go and voice your opinion and concerns through your vote today.  And if you know of someone without a ride, volunteer to take them to the polls with you.  

Be an example. Be a light. Vote!

Source: MS Clipart

A Dream Worth Dying For

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"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."

~Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Nobody lived by these words better than Dr. King did.  This strong, intelligent, determined Black man believed so much in his dream to help to create equality in the United States that he was willing to die for it.  And on April 4, 1968, that is exactly what happened.  For that I am so very grateful.

You see, I grew up in a mostly White town.  Growing up there was certainly a divide among the Black and White students.  Most of the Black students didn't take honors classes.  In fact, my senior year I was the only Black person in my AP English class.  However, I was blessed to have a wonderful teacher who truly didn't care about color, class or gender.

She always did her very best to make that we read just many books and stories about Blacks as we did about Shakespeare.  And somehow, I'm convinced that regardless of not if I had been in her class or not, she still would have selected the reading material she did.  In my opinion, she was one of the few non-Black teachers who truly embraced Dr. King's mindset of total equality.

Today, I live in a nice neighborhood where there is only two other Black families besides my own.  And I'm thankful that we get along with almost all of our neighbors.  I'm pretty sure that without Dr. King and his Civil Rights peers, I wouldn't have had such good experiences in these situations.

So, today we're not celebrating the achievements of Dr. King, but a renewing of his legacy.  I challenge everyone reading this take on a dream that you feel is worth dying for.  Find that one thing that you are passionate to death about and go for it.  Maybe, it's something to do with your kids, your family, your community, etc.  Just go forth and make a positive difference!

How are you keeping Dr. King's legacy alive?