funny, isn't it?
by jeanne charters

Screw me once…shame on you. Screw me twice…shame on me!

I have lived my life naturally adhering to that concept, and the belief in it has served me well. How about you? Are you by nature a fairly trusting soul? Do you honor your initial intuition about people and seldom find that you are wrong? Since women are extraordinarily intuitive beings, I think that’s a smart way to live. And yet…and yet…sometimes, we all get taken, don’t we?

On the good side, my trusting nature has finally led me to a husband so honest that he errs on the side of truth, sometimes in an offensive way. If you ever meet Matt, remember this: never ask him if your slacks make you look fat unless you really want to know. Don’t say you were not warned.

Many of us have grown up trusting in institutions that have betrayed us. My church turned its back on me when I was reeling from a divorce that I never anticipated as a dewy-eyed bride of 20. I left that church for 25 years and only returned to it two years ago. The same church is now rightfully under attack with terrible stories about how its priests betrayed the young people entrusted to their care. I hope that in time, these men and women so betrayed will find a way to forgive and come back to the church as I did. I know that some cannot do that, and I can’t really blame them.

This “funny, isn’t it?” may, I fear, not be terribly funny. That’s because we are approaching what I believe to be the most important election in our lifetime. Talking politics has sometimes gotten me into trouble in the most surprising situations. That’s because I have never, until now, been a particularly political person and, therefore, am not the sharpest tack in the pack when it comes to the history of politics in this country.

I have always been proud to be an American…until lately. I know that I am blessed to have been born in this country and I still believe that it is the most wonderful nation on earth. But this year, for the first time, when they played the Star Spangled Banner and we watched the glorious 4th of July fireworks, I felt ashamed. That makes me scared.

I’m scared of an administration that for the first time in our history invaded a sovereign nation based on faulty, or coerced, intelligence. I feel violated by the fact that, when the terrorism alert gets raised to orange, I wonder if it’s a manufactured machination based on political expediency. I am old enough to remember the agony of John F. Kennedy as he thought through an invasion of Cuba and stalled it long enough to get a resolution that saved us all from a world war that could have destroyed our planet. That’s because Kennedy thought!

I’m scared that many people I know live without any health care assistance in this, the most resource-wealthy nation in history. I’m confused that people believe an administration which boasts about job growth and does not acknowledge that many of those jobs are low-paying service jobs being filled by people with advanced degrees.

I’m scared that 4 years ago, we were wondering what we could do with a projected $10 trillion dollar surplus which has now been reduced to a nearly $500 billion dollar (and growing) deficit. I know that war is expensive, but this is ridiculous!

I’m more than scared…I’m terrified about an administration that attempts to divert its citizens’ attention away from the awful problems it has created and tries to shove a gay marriage ban amendment into the Constitution. I believe our Constitution was written to protect rights…not to deny them.

I’m scared when I hear women say they “hate Hillary Clinton”. What’s to hate? She’s probably one of the smartest women in this nation (next to Oprah). Why are women threatened by the best of our gender? Are some of us so invested in the paternal, protective bull---- that we have had shoveled down our throats that a strong woman makes us feel shaky in our status quo lives?

Come on, girls, wise up! If we don’t eventually save this planet, who will?

We are the generation of women who “brought home the bacon, fried it up in a pan and never, ever let him forget that he’s a man”. We are the generation who climbed corporate ladders and mothered babies; increased the number of women in medical schools while still mothering those babies; opened our own businesses and still did our best at mothering those babies. Now, we’re the generation who says it’s OK for a woman to stay home mothering babies and “not work”. NOT WORK??? Anyone who calls taking care of babies at home NOT WORKING has never done it!!

My point in all of this is to ask you…implore you…beg you…to vote. I’m not telling you who to vote for, but I think you can surmise from my words who I will be voting for. Your vote is your choice. The date is November 2. If you’re not registered, get registered this week.

Vote as if your life and your children’s lives depend on it. Because they do.
Funny, isn’t it? Nope!

Jeanne Charters is a former V.P. of Marketing for Viacom Television. She started her own award-winning broadcast advertising agency in 1990. Jeanne lives in Fairview with her husband, Matt Restivo.
[ charmkt@juno.com; 828-628-0023 ]