This is a bonus post today because I am addressing Americans.  I try not to do that here, but I feel this is needed.  I hope our friends and followers from the rest of the world will bear with me.  Please check out the regular post for today.

Are you registered to vote?  The deadline varies by state so if you aren’t check with your state and register today.

These difficult times are not the time to not vote or vote for someone who cannot win as a form of protest.  It is time to stop allowing ourselves as Americans to be divided, stop fighting each other and come together to work for the common good.

My mother drilled the importance of voting into my head until she died.  She liked to call me on election day to make sure I voted.

Voting was very important to her as a woman because she was aware of the hard work and sacrifice of the women and men who went before to secure her right to vote.  She always said she voted because she wanted to be able to complain if she didn’t like the way things were going.

If you feel that you have been ignored, ridiculed or excluded by the political process, this is the time to act.  I know what it is like to feel that your vote does not matter, but in this election every vote matters.

Actions are being taken to make if difficult for some of us vote.  But our votes still matter.  We can no longer take our right to vote for granted.  We must fight for it.  We must contact our elected representatives and let them know we will not be disenfranchised.  We should not be required to endanger our health and our lives to vote.  Just as those who went before us fought for our right to vote, we must continue to fight, not just for ourselves but for all Americans.