Hold My Spot

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Photo prompt: Na’ama Yehuda

 

The rain swelled and lessened, as did the line of people, standing dutifully in the raw, spitting day.

“How long?” A woman asked, leaning heavily on her cane.

“They’ll let you in,” I said, pointing. “You don’t need to stand in the long line.”

“What if they won’t? I don’t want to lose my place,” she fretted.

“Don’t worry,” a young hooded man motioned in direction of the building. “I’ll hold your spot.”

I smiled at him.

“Come,” I linked my arm in hers, round sticker prominent on my jacket “I’ll show you. I’m so happy you’re here to vote!”

 

 

 

For Rochelle’s FridayFictioneers

Note: Thank you Rochelle for using my photo! 🙂 Yay hurray! (It was, indeed, taken during an election day, where people stood in the pouring rain for over an hour, as the line stretched along sidewalks and around the corner in my neighborhood. The above is a depiction of real events). If you are in the US and aren’t registered to vote yet, please do! And, when elections come – any election – Vote! Your voice matters. Don’t let anyone convince you it does not.

60 thoughts on “Hold My Spot”

    • Amen for that! A lot of people didn’t know that there was an accessible entrance for any who needed assistance or could not stand for long in line. I ended up ‘volunteering’ unofficially up and down the line after I voted … helping some people find the accessible entrance, which was plainly marked but most people didn’t think of walking all the way up to the building (that line was LONG) and just assumed they had to wait in the long line … As someone who has at time to juggle a cane in one hand and an umbrella in the other, and for whom long standing lines are a bane of spine … I could relate, and people were absolutely nice to each other. We are better than people would want us to think we are.
      🙂
      Na’ama

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    • Just an accessible entrance for those who physically could not stand for a long time (like that woman who needed a cane), and which people didn’t know was there because they just placed themselves at the end of the long line … No rats, just accessibility for those who needed it. 🙂

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    • I hear you. I went between clients, as I think many people had to go on break or lunch break or whatever. 🙂 But it was all good – I didn’t even mind getting wet — voting is something women fought hard to be allowed to do, and that many women around the world still cannot do. I don’t take it for granted!

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    • Yes, I believe that if all who can vote, do vote, things would look very different. I was pleased to see the long lines for voting – it is a mixed neighborhood, quite diverse in ages and nationality of origin and religion and what not, and I was glad to see people engaged in the civic duty of voting. It is a privilege and a responsibility, and I hope everyone would take it as such.

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    • In the US, too, women could not vote till about 100 years go. Nor could Blacks, or Chinese, or Native Americans … It is a ridiculous reality that the constitution’s words — while true in principle — were very exclusionary in actuality. Until not too long ago. We’d do well to remember that it is a privilege not afforded to some in the world today, still.

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    • Thank you! It was a pretty heartwarming thing to see, and I am always appreciative of people doing their civic duty, even when it is not an easy thing to do. For example, you see the woman standing with the shopping bags, in the middle of a busy day, stopping and waiting patiently in the rain. There were people pushing strollers and bouncing babies in carriers, people of all ages and walks of life. It was a good thing.

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    • I think it has always been difficult to get at the truth – it is just that we have a lot of sources now, when in the past there might have been fewer that controlled the conversation. And … there is plenty more opportunity for QUICK spread of non-facts and outright lies via social media. As well as quick spread of FACTS and news and truth that might otherwise remain suppressed … What once took more time, and allowed for more verification before (some) misinformation found its way everywhere, can now spread at the click of a keyboard or a flick of a finger.
      That said, misinformation has always been an issue in governance as it has been with religion (the two were and still are intertwined in many places, including the US) and the power of those with the power to control the narrative. It is being challenged — sometimes by those with integrity, sometimes by those who have none, sometimes by those who don’t know either way … – and it is making it both more difficult to control the narrative and more dependent on people doing their own research rather than taking the word of anyone – from a president to a senator to a newspaper to a tweet – as gospel.
      Perhaps as well they not take any of it as gospel, anyway.
      Aren’t people complicated?! 🙂
      In the end, we have to learn as much as we can and use our noggin best we can and not fall into all-or-none, us-vs-them hyperbole that is intended to divide, not inform.

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    • Thank you, Jo. Most people are good. Most people are kind. Most people will help another person if they are made aware of the need and it is within their ability to offer assistance.
      🙂
      There is a lot of divisive narrative that tries to make dichotomies of everything, but my belief is that these are driven not by fact, but by greed for power and control. I’m not particularly good at accepting being put into boxes … So there’s that … 😉

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  19. Voting is a sacred duty. Good someone had come out to vote despite old age. Another person willing to hold her space and some other trying to help her.Goodness all around.

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    • Thanks Abhijit, 🙂 Yes and yes and yes! It is not something to take for granted. People are mostly good and I’m always heartened to see it, especially when so much of the news could have one think that most are not …
      Here’s to fulfilling one’s duty, in every way one can. 🙂

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  22. For the midterm elections last year, we had to stand in line for two to four hours. I don’t remember exactly, but it seemed like forever. It was the longest election line I’ve ever been in. Fortunately, we got to spend most of that time indoors. Some people started a sing-along. There was talk about chipping in to order pizza for everybody.

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  23. That’s great. Hopefully, things will approve for the handicapped. I recently got a message from one of my banks that there was an entrance which was easier for the handicapped. There’s no lift in our building and I have 43 steps to struggle up and down. Our building is being torn down and rebuilt in a redevelopment process. There will be two lifts in the new building. Thanks again for the prompt picture. 🙂 — Suzanne

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    • Thanks Suzanne! Yes, I hope things will improve – as they ought – for people who have disabilities or handicaps. It is not too much to ask to have an accessible entrance/door/bathroom/counter/public-transportation. It is basic decency for a good chunk of the population (not to mention those with strollers or pregnant and the elderly and temporarily infirm).
      I hope your new building – and other places you need to go – will be accessible in the way that works for everyone!
      Na’ama

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  24. I’m so thankful that even for a Presidential election, I’ve never stood in line for more than 10 minutes. I like to go very early, as soon as the polls are open.

    We have this amazing privilege to vote without fear in my country. Take advantage of it. Vote. Please.

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    • Yes, I think that depending on the poll site and hour of the day, there can be times when there’s less line and times when more people come (some from convenience, some from necessity–e.g. if they can only get to vote on a break, or only have a ride to the polls after work with someone who cannot take them there earlier, or only on a weekend because they can’t afford to take off or be late for work, etc.). I have more flexibility than some in my work schedule, and the poll is very close walking distance for me. So it is easier for me to get there than it might be for some who are more rural or have jobs that are less forgiving or hours with more limits on them.
      So lines are an inescapable reality for some, but it is still a privilege that I agree we must take advantage of. Because even in countries where one can vote without much fear (certain population are still, alas, subjected to some intimidation and undue harassment), the history of being able to vote isn’t all that long, especially not for some populations. Not that long ago, as the history goes, some were beaten up and thrown in jail for wanting to vote. I never take it for granted that we can do so freely now. It is what makes it all the more important, IMO, to fight voter suppression and voter intimidation of any kind, by anyone, and to ensure that those we vote FOR won’t chip at the freedom and free-from-fear elections and ensure that there’s no foreign interference in ours.
      Here’s to voting! Amen to that.
      Any who can vote, should!
      Na’ama

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