AN ESSAY ON VOTING BY EDWARDS....WADE EDWARDS

[Bluebear]

This essay was written by Wade (son of John and Elizabeth) in the fall of his junior year. It was entered into the National Conversation Essay Contest, conducted by the Voice of America and the National Endowment for the Humanities. Wade was one of ten national winners. In March 1996, three weeks before his death, he attended the award ceremonies in Washington, D.C., which included a visit with First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton in the private residence at the White House.

FANCY CLOTHES AND OVERALLS

BY WADE EDWARDS

A little boy and his father walk into a firehouse. He smiles at people standing outside. Some hand pamphlets to his father. They stand in line. Finally, they go together into a small booth, pull the curtain closed, and vote. His father holds the boy up and shows him which levers to move.

"We're ready, Wade. Pull the big lever now."

With both hands, the boy pulls the lever. There it is: the sound of voting. The curtain opens. The boy smiles at an old woman leaving another booth and at a mother and daughter getting into line. He is not certain exactly what they have done. He only knows that he and his father have done something important. They have voted.

This scene takes place all over the country.

"Pull the lever, Yolanda."

"Drop the ballot in the box for me, Pedro."

Wades, Yolandas, Pedros, Nikitas, and Chuis all over the United States are learning the same lesson: the satisfaction, pride, importance, and habit of voting. I have always gone with my parents to vote. Sometimes lines are long. There are faces of old people and young people, voices of native North Carolinians in southern drawls and voices of naturalized citizens with their foreign accents. There are people in fancy clothes and others dressed in overalls. Each has exactly the same one vote. Each has exactly the same say in the election. There is no place in America where equality means as much as in the voting booth.

My father took me that day to the firehouse. Soon I will be voting. It is a responsibility and a right. It is also an exciting national experience. Voters have different backgrounds, dreams, and experiences, but that is the whole point of voting. Different voices are heard.

As I get close to the time I can register and vote, it is exciting. I become one of the voices. I know I will vote in every election. I know that someday I will bring my son with me and introduce him to one of the great American experiences: voting.


http://www.wade.org/fancy.htm

[Bluebear]

1. Shameless kick. He was raised right. Rest in peace, Wade!

[MissB]

2. Kick again

With tears in my eyes.

[Gothmog]

3. I really liked this essay

This is a fine essay. I was really moved by it.

[Bluebear]

18. Me too. n/t

[Shredr]

4. Kick

What an amazing young man. What a tragic loss.

[Bluebear]

5. Belated welcome to DU , shredr!

[Shredr]

9. Thanks!

I love it here. I've found a great home.

[Lex]

6. No wonder his dad decided to leave his law pratice and enter politics

as a tribute to his son.

How could you not?

[stellanoir]

7. OMG. . .had heard about this essay yesterday. . .

and foolishly expected something more political. This is just so heartfelt and it's beauty lies in it's simplicity and hopefullness for his future.

I've always felt that comparisons of pain are most odious. But if you could make a chart, loss of a child would unquestionably be off the map.

The loss of any child will change their folks irrevocably.

But this one truly sounds like a keeper.

So sad.

I heard on NPR yesterday that when J.E. entered politics and was warned that his opponants would go after his family he said, "Once you have had to hug a child goodbye on the medical examiners table, nothing you will ever experience will be worse than that."

[Lex]

8. Oh man.

I heard on NPR yesterday that when J.E. entered politics and was warned that his opponants would go after his family he said, "Once you have had to hug a child goodbye on the medical examiners table, nothing you will ever experience will be worse than that."



Oh man. Guess he's not too afraid of Cheney and Bush and Rove.

He's going to chew them up and spit them out. Why? Because they are the opposite of everything Edwards' son Wade wrote about in that essay.

[BattyDem]

10. You can tell a lot about people ...

by the behavior, compassion and intelligence of their children.

Vice-President John Edwards (and Elizabeth Edwards) will be a huge asset to our country and our Democracy.

To hell with "Win one for The Gipper" - I say "Win one for Wade" :-)

Does anyone else think Edwards should read that essay at the convention? If that doesn't inspire young people to get involved, nothing will.

[Lex]

11. I guess I respect him for not making the essay a big deal publicly.

But maybe WE should make it a big deal on his behalf somehow.

[BattyDem]

12. I can understand him not wanting to exploit it, but ...

it's such a wonderful essay. It really should be heard by the masses. Wade Edwards, who wasn't even old enough to vote, understood that in order to maintain and protect our Democracy, we have to participate in it. There are many, many adults who need to get that message through their thick heads!


edited:typo (as usual :P )

[BattyDem]

13. My mother just showed me the paper ...

The NY Daily News printed Wade's essay today! I had no idea. It's part of a very nice article on John Edwards. ;-)

Inspiration from the son he misses so

[K8-EEE]

14. KICK!

I'll bet he would be proud to be helping his dad in this way!

[Bluebear]

15. What better legacy!

He did get to vote in a way if this essay moves people.

[Lex]

16. Wow, you're right. Thanks for that! n/t

.

[trof]

17. "Each has exactly the same one vote.

Each has exactly the same say in the election. There is no place in America where equality means as much as in the voting booth."

Please, whatever gods there may be, whatever karma may be out there, please let this be true in my country again.

[Beaverhausen]

19. Jenna Bush's Essay

A little girl and her father walk into a bar. Everyone in the smoky dark room enthusiastically shouts her father's name, "GEORGE!" They hand her father a frosty mug of beer and the little girl gets a Shirley Temple...

[Bluebear]

20. LOL