Fancy Clothes and Overalls, by Wade Edwards

http://www.wade.org/senator.htm">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.

by Wade Edwards.

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This election day, I feel that posting Wade Edwards' essay is appropriate. I'm excited for all of the people who are voting today for the first time ever, and I am thankful that I am able to vote for John Kerry and John Edwards. Lets hope the election goes smoothly, without any major voting problems. Pull the big lever now.

Where is this from?? Bet John Edwards is thinking of him today, knowing how excited/proud Wade would have been...

i'm sure wade is somewhere, smiling at how far his father has come and how hard he has fought to stand up for the little guy. It is a shame he won't be there on inauguration day to see his dad sworn in as Vice President of the United States.

God bless the Edwards family.

...and my daughter came out in her "church clothes". She told me she dressed up because it was 'Lection Day and very, very important. She wore her sparkly ballerina shoes, too!

to be a part. they closed at 4 and getting kids from school to there, i missed it the first two times. third time a charm. boys shook hands with the democratic judge running. his picture and name has been all over town. chatted with a lot of old people at the senior home. they love kids. love them. they were center of attention while i vote, the ladies keeping them emtertained.

and, they got to experience a republican older woman say i was a sorry person, because i had told judge i was mad at the republicans, that he had my vote. they then got to watch this republican woman lecture me on the good job bush has done

i simply told her,........i am raising two kids, a christians is as a christian does. and walked away, leaving her there to be the fool

my youngest at 7 wants me to come into school and give him a thumbs up if kerry wins. told him will be tonight. boys both woke this morning talking election adn how excited they are.

they are in a christian school that talks heavily repug and bush and evil kerry. it is thrust in their life on a daily basis. curious how their day is today.

Wade Edwards was the eldest son of John and Elizabeth Edwards. He was killed in a tragic automobile accident on April 4, 1996 at age 16.
http://www.wade.org/

The Wade Edwards Foundation is a public, non-profit organization, with charitable organization status under Internal Revenue Code section 501(c)(3) founded in 1996 to honor the life and spirit of Wade Edwards by supporting in other young people the pursuit of the virtues of honor, determination, responsibility, and charity. The Foundation supports activities that honor these qualities in students of achievement as well as activities that encourage all students to strive for excellence.

Check out the Wade Edwards Learning Lab (WELL).