This is a kind of transition week I think. We celebrated Memorial Day on Monday, a day that not only signifies the beginning of our summer season, but hopefully a remembrance of those men and women in our armed forces who gave their lives in defense of our country. It is also the week before Wisconsin’s landmark recall election.
You may be wondering what these two events have to do with each other. In my perspective, you can sum it up in one word: duty.
Duty is a powerful word. It is defined in most circles as a moral obligation to take action. It is not a matter of passive feeling or even simple recognition; you have to do something.
Those in the military who made the ultimate sacrifice believed it was their duty to protect our country. They either enlisted or were drafted, depending on the war and the time. They fought to defend our freedom, to defend the rights and liberties that we hold so dear. And that most of us take for granted.
Most people are lucky not to have lost loved ones in service. Nearly seventy years ago, my Dad served in European Theater Italy in World War II and returned in one piece. I was born a year and a half later. I was lucky.
In 1969, the fact that my son was three months away from birth prevented me from going to Vietnam. Who knows if I would have come back had I gone? Lucky again.
Even the man who today would be my father-in-law came back after serving in Japan during the post-World War II occupation, and his daughter, my wife, would be born some years later. Lucky a third time.
But not all families, not all soldiers, have been so fortunate. Nearly a million service men and women did not return from combat during America’s wars. Most, if not all, had loved ones back home, normal people like you and me who were told that someone close to them died in the line of duty.
Duty, while certainly at a different level, applies to all of us in Wisconsin as well. Because we have a chance to perform our own duty to our country next Tuesday, June 5.
By voting.
And if you think you shouldn’t vote next week because the polls have already shown who is going to win, think again, please. As Joel McNally of the Shepherd Express says in his column yesterday, Taking Liberties, Why We Vote, “Anyone who believes recent polls have shown them which candidate is ahead in Wisconsin’s recall race has been grossly misled by media reports attributing accuracy to poll results that simply does not exist.”
So don’t assume your vote doesn’t matter. It does.
Regardless of which side of the fence you reside on, or even if you’re sitting directly on the fence, whether you think this recall election is right and just or not, you owe it to yourself, to your city, to your county, to your state, to get out and vote.
Voting isn’t a just a right, voting isn’t just a privilege. It is a duty. And if you won’t do it for yourself, do it in honor of someone who gave their life doing their duty in service to our country.
Vote on June 5.
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Follow me on Twitter: @jpalmer7890
