All Souls

Sharing (with permission) for my American readers...

On this All Soul's Day, this came through for me -- I know I will take my rebellious grandparents with me.

 When you go to the polls on Tuesday, November 6th, don’t go alone – take your ancestors with you.

Take with you the ones chained in the bottom of a slaver’s ship, who survived the terrible journey, who suffered the lash, whose families were torn apart and yet who fought to stay alive, so that you could be here.

Take with you the ones who crossed over from the frozen Siberian wastes into North America, who came here first, who worked with the spirits of the land, and who were almost wiped out by the invaders, who struggled to keep their cultures alive, so that you could be here.

Take with you the ones who sailed the Pacific in outrigger canoes, guided by the stars and tides, who survived the coming of disease and those who would destroy their culture, so that you could be here.

Take with you the ones who escaped famine, war, pestilence, pogroms, Nazis, Communism, hatred, and tyranny, who boarded ships, who scrimped and saved to make the journey, who cried and bled and suffered and did without, so that you could be here.

Take with you the ones who struggled to have the right to vote –those who were bludgeoned and had fire hoses turned on them, those who were arrested, those who were murdered in cold blood, those who chained themselves to the White House gates and were jailed and force fed, so that you could have the right to vote.

Take them all with you – hear their whispers, their cries, their shouts in your ears to stand up and be counted, because you stand upon their shoulders and without them you could not have the freedom to cast a ballot, to make your voice heard, to stand up and be counted.

Sharon Downey