‘Tis the season of ghosts and goblins and things that go bump in the night.
I don’t know about you, but I do not enjoy being scared. I think it dates to the time my parents asked me what movie my friend and I were going to see and “The Exorcist” was not the answer I gave them as it was forbidden. I was in my mid teens and far too young to process all the evil that spewed from the giant screen. And, since I gave my parents “alternative facts” I had to walk home … alone … after dark … and pass by a cemetery, (okay, I ran passed the cemetery) and then spent the rest of the evening moving my bed and dresser around as my room set up was alarmingly similar to that of the young possessed girl!
It was months before I could force myself to go to the basement alone, which was a problem since that is where we kept the washer and dryer. Oh, the tangled web we weave.
My much younger self watched plenty of thrillers, thanks to Friday night Creature Features which I often viewed with my older siblings where I peeked through the holes of the knitted afghan I hid under when it got a little too creepy. I thought I could handle a mainstream horror film, but I was mistaken!
Since that experience was so traumatic, I wisely decided to forego the many, many horror films that hit the big screen in the decades following. No Halloween or Jason or Scream for me. I did watch the Blair Witch Project but only after learning it was not a documentary.
Each fall I would muster up my courage to join friends for the adrenaline rush of haunted houses, always trying to joke my way through, but honestly, I was a big chicken. I did not relish someone climbing out of a wall, talking heads on tables, or zombies chasing me through hallways. It felt too much like “if someone is thinking this stuff up, someone else is likely doing it for real.” You would think I would have spared my own offspring from the sick and twisted thrill of horror, but you would be mistaken.
My daughter often reminds me of my greatest parental faux pas in that realm, when I allowed her to watch “It” before she was seven. Scary clown that eats children … what was the issue? It was on television. Her older, not yet stepbrothers, were watching, and I didn’t have the wisdom to remove her from the room.
Of course, as often as she admonishes me for that incident, she also begged us to let her see “Paranormal Activity” some years later, and my husband was kind enough to acquiesce. He may still carry the imprint of her nails in his arm as she held on for dear life throughout the film!
And now, all those years of avoiding being frightened out of my wits on purpose have left me ill prepared for what could be a real-life nightmare this November. Yes, it is election time.
The last half dozen years have been, arguably, some of the most divisive in our country. Polite society has taken a serious hit, and I am not sure how to get back to basic civility. As I look at some of the national issues and candidates, I am inclined to crawl back under my afghan and just take an occasional peek through the gaps when it feels safe to do so! My strategy is to reel it all in to what I can see directly in front of me. In other words, I am focusing on the local issues and local contests.
A good friend keeps reminding me to stick to my own pod. If we feel helpless, we are much less likely to affect change. Locally, we have a lot of say. Locally, races have often been decided by less than 100 votes. Locally, each and every vote really does matter and can be the difference between a candidate you believe in and one you have to close your eyes to get through the policies they may impose.
I have always been an advocate for exercising our right to vote. As a woman, I feel an obligation to all those brave ladies who chained themselves to the gates of the white house, were arrested, were jailed, were force fed and suffered countless atrocities so that generations later, I would have a say in who would write policies that affect me and the society in which I live. Nothing is guaranteed and in today’s climate, rights I have taken for granted for most of my life may now be up for grabs.
The people elected for city council, school boards and county positions have a lot of power. I can not emphasize strongly enough, the importance of casting your vote. I realize you may not be voting the same way I will be voting and I am okay with taking that risk because I believe apathy (over the long term) is much more dangerous than the consequences of a bad candidate taking office. When a third or less of the population is making the decisions, democracy is truly at stake.
I have so much admiration for those willing to step into the political arena , who do so for the greater good and not for personal ambitions. There have been many times when I have considered throwing my hat in the ring. It is not doubt about my ability to do the job that keeps me from running, but the innate knowledge that I do not have the skin it takes to run a campaign. Politics is a tough business. The best way we can thank those brave enough and caring enough to step up is to cast our vote.
It’s scary out there! Be brave. But know, this is not a movie. Please vote!
