{"id":52,"date":"2006-10-24T06:01:38","date_gmt":"2006-10-24T06:01:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=52"},"modified":"2006-11-24T13:15:43","modified_gmt":"2006-11-24T13:15:43","slug":"god-bless-the-usa-or-its-time-to-vote-relationships-christian-thoughtfulness-kindness-humor-daily-devotions-stress-relax-love-meaningful-struggle-illness-life-family-sex-ministry-men-women-friends-car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/?p=52","title":{"rendered":"God Bless the U.S.A. or Its Time to Vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lee Greenwood made the song \u00e2\u20ac\u201c God Bless the <\/span>U.S.A.<\/span> \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a song we all know the words for. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a touching tribute to the freedoms we have in <\/span>America<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes I think we take those freedoms for granted\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6especially around election time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Early in my son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, his father and I took him with us to vote. We wanted that to be a natural part of his life so we started him early getting use to going with us on Election Day.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are many teachable moments at the voting sites. Pierce was full of questions and we tried to be patient and answer them honestly while we were there.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll never forget when I was waiting for four year old Pierce and his father to come out of the voting booth. His Dad was carefully selecting his candidates when a young voice said loudly from behind the curtains, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Why did you vote for HIM?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

Everyone laughed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The conversation got even funnier when he came out and said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Mom. Did you vote for that Reagan man for pwezeedint?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

Yes, voting is a God given right that, often times, too many of us take for granted.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t really care who you vote for, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your business\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6and a private one at that as far as I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m concerned. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m just anxious about the many who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve decided not to vote at all. What ARE they thinking?<\/span><\/p>\n

There are those individuals who are extremely passionate about their candidates and who want to make darn sure you know why they believe in them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Once, I got caught up in working on the Nixon campaign when I was at college in the dark ages. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s easy when you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re young to get swept up quickly by those who are campaigning for a candidate they believe strongly in.<\/span><\/p>\n

One good thing about that experience was that I did get to meet one \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the only one I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve ever met \u00e2\u20ac\u201c presidential candidate when Nixon came to visit <\/span>Spartanburg<\/span> on the campaign trail that year. I was good friends with the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Young Republicans\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Leader that year and he talked me into being a part of the effort.<\/span><\/p>\n

There are so many things in today\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s world we have little power over. Voting is one way to let your voice be heard. Its part of what it means to be an American\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6that we have the freedom to vote for whomever we wish without persecution. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s quite a blessing considering there are those in other countries who get killed on the way too and from the voting poll.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Lee Greenwood says in his song, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s pride in EVERY American heart, and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s time to stand and say I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m Proud to be an American where at least I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m free.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d In my words I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d add \u00e2\u20ac\u0153\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6where at least I know I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m free – to vote.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/span><\/p>\n

My Wish for you today is that you mark your calendar now and make certain you vote for your candidates on Election Day\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6whoever they are. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your responsibility as an American to make sure your voice is heard with the many others that will vote that day. If you have children, make it a teachable moment for them so they learn – from your example \u00e2\u20ac\u201c the importance and privilege of living and voting in the <\/span>U.S.A.<\/span><\/p>\n

~ Joellen<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lee Greenwood made the song \u00e2\u20ac\u201c God Bless the U.S.A. \u00e2\u20ac\u201c a song we all know the words for. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a touching tribute to the freedoms we have in America. Sometimes I think we take those freedoms for granted\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6especially around election time. Early in my son\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s life, his father and I took him with us […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-american-pride","category-political"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reflectionsfromacountrygirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}