It's an interesting coincidence that Election Day follows Mother's Day so closely this year. I wonder how many of us had both our politics and our commitment to our province shaped by our mothers.
In my case, I know that's certainly true. My mother's opinion was that if you didn't vote, you should probably live in a country where voting wasn't an option. She was adamant that voting was the biggest privilege Canadians have. I tend to agree with that premise.
It annoys me to no end to hear people say they never vote because there really is no choice. What I suspect they're really saying is they're too lazy to actually make an effort to discover what is different about the parties and the people who vie for our support.
Mom had lots of quirks in addition to her loud berating of anyone stupid enough to tell her they didn't vote. She considered her vote to be private and no one's business but her own. I remember once when some poor unenlightened soul remarked that she must have voted (party shall remain unnamed) because all her in-laws did. Wow, did he get an earful. The exact quote is probably not fitting for a family newspaper, but suffice to say the remark never came her way again.
I always wondered just why it was that Mom didn't wear her political heart on her sleeve. I suspect it had something to do with her younger years when she didn't get a lot of support at school or at home, and she was afraid her opinion wasn't valid.
I remember her telling me that her first day of school was a nightmare. She started school in the mid-1930s when Hitler was over-running much of the world and Germans were persona non grata. My little mom at six years of age couldn't speak many English words -her immigrant dad and German-speaking Canadian mother spoke the mother language at home. A compassion-free principal made sure Mom knew the errors of her ways with a slap the first time she used a German word. In self-defence she rarely spoke German again until her dying days when she mistook my youngest brother for her dad. Canadians in the early 20th century seemed to have a knack for silencing individuals.
Her only answer when I questioned her on her non-disclosure was that if it was intended that everyone know how she voted, there wouldn't be a secret ballot, and that I was welcome to mind my own business.
For those of you who think there must have been clues after the vote, guess again. She had pretty much the same opinion of all politicians and persons of authority - not surprising, given her history.
The only thing I know for certain was that she loved this province. The north where she lived for about 35 years and the Okanagan where she spent her retirement years were special in her heart. What she would make of our province's concerns now is difficult to fathom. The only thing I know for sure is that were she here she'd be voting on Tuesday.
And because I don't want her haunting me, I will be, too.
