Recent events in my hometown of Madison have prompted me to start up again, at least for the short term. I think my Facebook friends are probably getting a bit annoyed by all my political posts. And there is truly only so much one can put in 140 characters on Twitter.
But I honestly probably would have kept my thoughts to Twitter if it weren't for the dinner conversation tonight. We took our "little" out to dinner. I missed the last two weeks with her due to my knee surgery, so it was our first time to catch-up on recent events.
She didn't know.
She didn't know that the Governor and the President both have bills on their desks that will take away:
1) her health insurance
2) her housing
3) her chance at a scholarship to a local university
My friends and I have been out protesting on a daily basis. We don't like this bill. But to tell the truth - we don't personally lose out on all that much if it is passed. Yes, I have many public sector friends who will take a 10% pay cut and yes, that is very hard. But most won't lose their house. They will still have health care and enough to eat.
She won't.
I did my best at explaining the various provisions of the bill and telling her about the 14 Wisconsin Senators who fled town to make sure that it didn't get passed until we could all learn everything we could about the bill. I told her that I didn't like the bill and that I'd been spending a lot of time up at the Capitol to protest the bill.
As I walked her up to her door to drop her off after dinner, she turned to me and said in a very quiet voice, "Kristen, do you think you could take me with you the next time you go protest? I'd like to do that too."
So on Saturday, I will proudly march in Madison again. This time, with the reason I'm marching right beside me.
I feel like Walker and his colleagues think that poverty is something that only happens to lazy, stupid, inept people. It is probably very easy to cut programs when you think they are going to support slackers and deadbeats. But I'm here to tell him that some of the most intelligent, kind, amazing people I know live below the poverty level. And we aren't going to stop marching!
4 comments:
Glad to see this, I'll put it on my regular stops. heal quick and fully.
Great post Kristen! Brought tears to my eyes. You are both lucky to have each other and I'm glad you can guide her along in discovering her political awareness. I think the sentiments in your last paragraph are dead on and I know you're doing your best to enlighten them!
I join Rachel with tears in my eyes. I know how committed you are to your little sister... she is a very lucky young lady, and I know you're learning a lot from her too. A hundred hugs!
Exactly why I'm so irate about what's been going on. Well said Kristen! And welcome back to blogging! We've missed you!
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