Monday, November 3, 2008

No Costumes...No Candy!


This is the sketch I'd intended for my last post but a visit from the In-laws and quite a bit of yard work took up most of my time last week. So here it is, a few days late. There isn't any one incident that prompted me to draw it, just a general frustration with folks who want free candy without actually getting in the spirit of Halloween. In our last house, we always saw one or two kids who would just show up with a little greasepaint smeared on their faces expecting a handful of candy. I'd suppress the urge to kick them off my porch ("Git off my lawn!") and would grudgingly give them a snickers bar or two. (Fun-size of course. What's "fun" about smaller candy, anyway? I've always wondered.) Anyway, Halloween was great this year. I had a blast and don't expect me to stop watching horror movies or drawing spooky things just because it's November and "Jingle Bells" is playing over the Walmart speakers.

Tomorrow is Election Day, I'm getting up at 5:00 a.m. and heading for the polls. I expect the lines to be massive. We usually have pretty brisk turnout in our neighborhood so I think this year will be huge. Suzanne's already voted since she's headed to New York on business tomorrow but I'm looking forward to going to the polls. I love the experience of voting. It's and event, like a nationwide party. Especially this year. Most elections I feel like I'm spitting into the wind. Virginia votes Republican in every Presidential election so it's never felt like I needed to vote one way or the other. But I've never missed an election and I never will if I can help it. And this year, Virginia is a battleground state so it feels like my vote really counts. I'm so excited.

I just don't get folks who don't vote. Regardless of who they would vote for. Too many people have bled and died for our right to vote, especially in the cases of women and African-Americans. I simply can't understand why someone would take that right for granted or, worse, willingly give it up. It is not just our right as American citizens to vote but also our duty. I didn't support the Iraq war but I keep thinking about the Iraqis who, despite being threatened with their own deaths and the deaths of their families, voted in their first free elections, proudly holding up their ink-stained fingers, knowing full well it could cost them their lives. That was a very gratifying scene. But then I think about folks over here who skip voting because they want to sleep late or because they hate waiting in lines or, unforgivably, they don't know who the candidates are. And that makes me angry. I would walk ten miles through snow and sleet to get to the polls if I had to.

So, please, tomorrow, no matter how busy you are, set aside a few minutes (or hours as the case may be) and honor the people who have given their lives so that we can have a say in who runs our government and go cast your vote.

8 comments:

Rich Faber said...

Awesome Punkinheaded Dude, Matt. I will someday ink your work! ;-)

As for your Election Day thoughts, you've put it so much more eloquently than I could in my own post on the subject. Hopefully, folks will stand up (or write in, or punch chads, or touch screens, or whatever) and be counted!

Talk to you soon!

Best,
Rich

Warren said...

NC is a battleground state too! I did the early voting thing and yes, it is a great feeling to know that your candidate has a chance of winning your state!

And heck yeah, I expect to see as much or more scary stuff as Christmas draws near. Next to Halloween, it's the scariest holiday there is! (Thank you, Charles Dickens!)

Happy Election Day everyone!

Brian said...

Cool drawing Matt.

Everyone who comes to our house is in costume, but hardly anyone says trick or treat anymore.

As for the election, the Mrs. and I voted this morning and there was no line by the time we got there, though 230 had voted in the little over an hour that the polls had been open at that point.

Massachusetts is about as far from a battle ground state as you can get, but I always vote and there usually is a local race or a ballot question that makes the trip more than just an exercise in civic pride and duty.

Adam Hutch said...

My vote vote almost always goes with my state here in NY, but it'll be nice if NY's votes actually go with the winner.

That Jack-o-Lantern is great by the way. Looking forward to your Perhapanuats back-ups.

renecarol said...

We did it. Woo hoo. I really thought NC was going to go blue (though technically its not been called here yet) it looks like McCain is leading NC for the time being. But Obama got Virginia. And its over.

Heywood Jablomie said...

great pic matt!!

i don't know what our trick or treat turnout was as we were at a party at my work that night. but we left a bowl out and it was pretty empty when we got home. probably was just one kid that took it all....

i voted yesterday for the first time and it was a great feeling.(i was a slacker for the longest time and finally saw the error in my ways)

Bill White said...

I also dislike the kids don't wear a costume & still expect a handout. It feels more like robbery than trick or treating.

I wish I'd mentioned this in my Halloween blog!

Squeeze said...

Nice picture honey! YOu get better with every drawing.

More folks voted than ever before. If we could have voter turnout like this every election.