The first thing I heard this morning was "We've been vandalized!" and my heart just sank.
Much has been made about the role of yard signs. I was in the camp that said that they were generally divisive. I remember feeling heartsick when our conservative next-door neighbors put up a yard sign proclaiming their opposition to equal rights for gay couples that was coming up on a referendum. We have two gay families on our block and it made me sad to think that they had to drive by and look at that every single day. I should have rushed out and got a sign in support of the initiative and I'll always regret that I didn't.
Fast forward to this election cycle. Several weeks ago, the same conservative neighbors put up a McCain/Palin sign, something we certainly anticipated, as they get a sign for every election, no matter how trivial. That was it for me. I had already ordered several Obama/Biden signs for our house and to distribute to friends and family. However, they were on back order and I just could not let that sign go unanswered (how petty am I?)! I headed on over to an Obama campaign office and purchased a yard sign and made an additional donation.
Since our sign appeared, many, many, more Obama signs have appeared in the neighborhood, to my delight! So this morning when I heard my husband say "We've been vandalized!", my heart just dropped.
As I trudged to the front door, I was terrified of what I would find. Racial epithets (I'm black, my husband is white)? Threats of violence? What I found instead was a McCain sign in place of my Obama sign. Talk about psychological warfare! I freaked and ripped the sign out of my lawn immediately, thanking God that it was 7 am and no one saw the sign or my crazy reaction. Meanwhile, my calmer, more rational half was looking around and he noticed that our neighbors across the street had acquired a familiar looking Obama sign.
We were the 'victims' of a switcheroo, it seemed. So, I kept the offending sign and left a note on what I was fairly sure was my Obama sign, letting the neighbors, who I'd never met, know what had happened.
I ended up meeting two nice, older, white women (mother and daughter) who were just as bewildered at what had happened. They were happy that their sign had not been stolen and thanked me repeatedly for returning it to them. The mother suggested that the pranksters may have been watching to see what had happened and if neighbor wars erupted over the sign switch.
All in all, a happy ending and I met two neighbors who may disagree with me politically, but didn't seem too angry or violent and didn't call me an A-Rab or anything. So give peace a chance.
Obama/Biden '08!!!!!!!!!!!!!!