Things went smoothly last week where I voted here in Chapel Hill, NC. But I was able to vote and many of those in line with me were able to vote only because of the struggles of those who have gone before us within the last century.
I would have waited patiently and as I waited I would be thinking of the years of patient waiting and courageous action taken by people like Susan B. Anthony, like Carrie Chapman Catt, like Gandhi, like Martin Luther King, Jr.--like millions of their followers.
I would have waited in line without complaining. As a woman, I would have waited as long as it took. I would have considered it a small price to pay for change, thinking of how my foremothers chained themselves to fences and went to jail and went on hunger strikes and sustained being force fed--having their mouths clamped open and food poured down their throats--for the right to vote.
And I would have waited in line without complaining, thinking about how in my childhood I watched on television as African Americans were beaten, assaulted with attack dogs and firehoses, spat upon and humiliated and jailed--for the right to vote.
Is waiting a pain in the ass? Sure. But in light of the struggle of those who went before us, who fought for all of us to be able to vote--and not so long ago--waiting, even for hours, is the least we can do.
Vote!