Doctor Curmudgeon®: To Vote or Not To Vote That Is This Question
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By Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D FAAFP
Sir Galahad, the magnificent Siberian Husky, who watches over the Curmudgeon family, protects the house, guides all the family members and is, of course, a ranking member of the Council of Domestic and Foreign Relations, sits next to Doctor Curmudgeon as these thoughts, rants, ravings, comments, meanderings, whimsies, satires and fantasies are typed into this space.
(The other committee members are Renpet, the feline who is supposedly a “retired” CIA cat and mysteriously and periodically is whisked away in black limos; Sir Winston Churchill, the wise and watchful Himalayan and Pakha, the bright and feisty mixed cat).
Sir Galahad cleared his throat, politely denoting that he wished to interrupt the flying fingers of the curmudgeon.
Turning her head, Doctor Curmudgeon® looked at Gally (his family name).
“Doctor C,” began Gally, “I find it absurd that you would title this column ‘To Vote or Not to vote.’ To me, it is unthinkable that there are those citizens who would not vote. Simply beyond my comprehension.”
Sitting up on his haunches and placing his paws on the desk, he continued, “Don’t people realize how special this is? Why, back in 1840, women began to fight for suffrage and it wasn’t until 1869 and 1870 that women in Wyoming and Utah could vote. Idaho and California followed a few years later. And, my great-great-great-great-great grandfather, Sir Percival Husky wrote in his diary, back in 1869 that the 15th amendment was finally passed and it granted all men the right to vote, regardless of race, color or if they were slaves at one time.”
Doctor Curmudgeon® thought about her childhood, when as a curmudgeonlet, she had accompanied her mother to the polls. She was so tiny that she held onto the hem of her mother’s dress and felt her mother’s pride as she voted. Even then, she knew the thrill of voting. And she knew that women did not have voting rights until 1920 when the 19th amendment was passed.
She remembered stories of grandparents who had emigrated from other lands, for the freedom and the honor and the privilege of being able to vote.
How could anyone pass up this great gift of voting! inconceivable, she thought.
Stroking Gally’s soft fur, she said aloud, “Too bad that wise canines and felines don’t vote.”
Smiling to himself, Sir Galahad thought “Ah, but we do!”
Doctor Curmudgeon® is Diane Batshaw Eisman, M.D., a physician-satirist. This column originally appeared on SERMO, the leading global social network for doctors.
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