This is my mom and dad. They married in Austria in 1955. It was a small ceremony, and afterward they sat at an sidewalk table by a cafe, and watched the Russian Army withdraw from their ten year occupation after the end of the second world war.
Twelve years previous to that, my mother mourned her aunt who was brutally raped and murdered by a Russian soldier, while at the same time my father, a teenaged American citizen living in Europe since he was five years old, was being passed from relative to relative in Vienna to avoid Nazi incarceration.
During that war to end all wars, my mother's mother used to keep a pistol in her apron for protection around the house which was located near the Hungarian border. My father watched a victim of an Allied bombing run as he was euthanized by medics who believed there was nothing else they could do to help.
They both witnessed the war first hand, saw it's build up, cried at the Anschluss, noted the dwindling number of Jews and Gypsies, blacked out their windows at night, and waited for it all to be over so they could exhale.
In case you were wondering about the importance of voting, I suggest you ask them.
My dad died at the end of last year. He lived to be 89 years old and never once hesitated to stand up and have his vote counted.
My mother is 85 years old and serves as a polling place election judge. She never once questioned why she should. She already knew the answer.
To them, policies were more important than personalities, and that's how they decided whom they should vote for. It's a value they instilled in their children, and it's how I am raising mine. And yet when I consider the current political climate, and societal worship of celebrity, I grow concerned.
My father and mother witnessed first hand the murderous beginnings, flourishing, and desperate aftermath of a genocidal socialist government in which the people had no say. They witnessed the cold brutality of a communist government which unleashed the madness and frustration of its army upon civilians without a conscience. They did not consult Oprah or Alec Baldwin for their opinions. This is why I know only people who have been through what my parents endured will ever truly appreciate our democracy.
Mom and Dad never threatened to go to Canada if their candidate lost. They never ridiculed the other voter as unintelligent. Instead, they realized how precious our system of self government is and how quickly heated rhetoric and exclusionist actions can burn it to the ground.
We are losing the lessons of democracy and fail to realize the cost needed to replace it once it's gone. The cloth of its mighty blanket is wearing thin from abuse at a time when the weather is worsening, so I caution all of you who disregard the importance of your vote to beware political chill which causes us to shiver. The resulting illness won't be the fault of the unfeeling wind, but rather the population that relies on a long dead people to maintain the shelter they built.
Educate yourself.
Make good decisions.
Vote.
