November Gratitude Diaries Post #6: VOTE

Today is easy. I'm grateful for my right to vote. 

Artwork by Anne Bentley bentleyworks.us

I'm extra grateful to live in the state of Oregon, where we vote by mail and don't even have to use a stamp if we want to save that fifty cents (my local ballot box is literally at a McDonald's "drive-thru," which in true Portlander form, I "walked-thru"). 

This morning, I'm trying to wrap my head around the fact that women have only "been allowed," or "had the right," or... (there is NO good way to say!) that women have been legally participating in this basic part of democracy for less than 100 years. And that it took decades of activism, being voted down, laughed at, dismissed, over and over again.

​When everyone “in power” tells you your idea is ridiculous—for decades!—it can be easy to start believing that, too. But sometimes, it can fuel your fire. May we stay hungry for what we know is right—and for what can make our lives extraordinary!