Comments on: Where were you?

By: teresa83

teresa83 — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 22:05:37 +0000

Mike – It looks like some of the strategies to hold the President-elect accountable have already taken form, this one was brought to my attention http://www.fightfoca.com/

Most are already fighting abortion using several approaches, the Catholic pro-life movement to the surprise of many has a comprehensive approach.

By: Mike Sweitzer-Beckman

Mike Sweitzer-Beckman — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 19:28:46 +0000

Teresa – I hope you don’t continue to feel complete devastation over the election of Obama in regards to abortion. I do believe that there are Catholics who have a variety of approaches to reduce abortions in this society that are out there – and they are already figuring out strategies to hold him and his administration accountable. Here’s an example from NCR:

http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/2553

By: jjhatch

jjhatch — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:21:36 +0000

11/4/08 – It was unseasonably warm and beautifully clear here in Wisconsin. I had voted early, so I was able to hit the snooze button at least once. :) I spent the day obsessively checking fivethirtyeight.com, even though there was no real news to report. My spouse and I crashed the above mentioned law school party. I enjoyed a Smithwicks and the rush of hooting and hollering with the rest of the crowd as the results started coming in. (We went extra wild when Wisconsin was called!) After Ohio came in, we decided to head home because we knew the race would be called soon, and it’s a 20 minute drive out to our little suburb.

Spouse and I sat on the couch in our PJ’s, and when MSNBC called it for Obama, I just wept – I couldn’t help it. I was watching shots from around the country, and I was struck by the image of a young woman at Spelman College (a historically Black women’s college) sitting on the floor, totally overcome with emotion. That’s when it really hit me that this election was far bigger than Democrat or Republican. And I wept some more.

I called my older sister in Philadelphia – we cried some more. As soon as I hung up with her, my younger sister in Illinois called me. She’s 16, and she was so excited, so proud of our country. I’m so glad I got to be a part of this.

By: teresa83

teresa83 — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 01:50:01 +0000

I slept through the actual event, I thought it would be a near occasion of sin to actually watch it. As I learned of the results it was a sad occasion, I couldn’t help but be concerned that the pro-death promises our President-elect made might in fact become a reality, I thought of the living saints I know that work the CPCs, and counsel women on the streets, and I became concerned that I might soon see the day in which these people are persecuted and criminalized by a re-energized opposition and a set of laws that our President-elect promised to unleash. I thought of a picture I saw at a local CPC, of a class of women, all the smiling faces of the young girls that were helped there and chose life over death for their children, it now seems real that the CPC may be forced to close. I thought these thoughts and so many more, I took some comfort last Sunday talking this over with fellow parishioners who felt these same things. It was a bit like the time after 9/11/01 when our imaginations seemed to expand, what we never thought of before as being possible now seems like a threat.

By: Becky Schwantes

Becky Schwantes — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:57:32 +0000

November 4, 2008 and September 11, 2002 will forever be linked in my memory.

Last Tuesday, November 4, was the most beautiful autumn day in St. Louis. The trees were at their peak of colors bright with reds, oranges, yellows, greens, and browns and only a few leaves wafting to the ground in a slow dance. Tuesdays are the only day that I get to sleep in out of the week, but I had volunteered to make chili for a fund raiser at my grad program, so I got up, cooked and drove to school. I then left two and a half hours to vote just in case the lines were long. My polling place was only two blocks from my apartment, so I got to lazily walk there in 75+ degree weather and enjoy the beauty of God’s creation. I only had to wait for one person to sign in before I got my ballot, and I excitedly cast my vote. The rest of the day was filled with classes and election coverage in the commons complete with free pizza, beer and coffee to watch the returns. After my evening class, I chose to watch the rest of the coverage at home with my boyfriend where we toasted all of the candidates with champaign and thanked God that the 2+ years of campaigning was over! and prayed for wisdom and social justice.

September 11, 2002 happened to be the day after my 18 birthday and also the primary elections in Minnesota for various local candidates. I could not have been more excited to stretch my democratic right to vote that day, so my dad and I went to the polls at 7AM (CST) so I could vote for the first time and get to school in time for my first period class. Proudly wearing my “I Voted” sticker, I left my first period class at the all-boys military academy where I was taking an AP class not talk at my all-girls Catholic school, and proceeded to walk five minutes back for my second period class. As I left the boys’ school, I noticed an honor guard lowering the flag. It wasn’t until I got back to my school where S. Marie Therese, then mother superior of the Visitation sisters who ran my high school, was making an announcement about what had happened in New York over the loud speaker. The rest of the day was a blur of classes and news coverage , prayer services and work, before I got to go home to spend the evening with my family. I can never vote again without being reminded of that day.

By: Mike Sweitzer-Beckman

Mike Sweitzer-Beckman — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:52:24 +0000

On 11/4/2008, I spent a few hours knocking on doors to get out the vote (73% of Dane County voted for Obama, so I doubt the 20 or so people I talked to swayed the election either way). That evening, I met my wife and some of her law school friends at an Irish bar just off the capitol square in Madison (one of my faithsharing friends came too!). Things crept by very slowly, but after Obama won Pennsylvania and Ohio, we knew that we were pretty close to witnessing history. We decided to go home since the bar didn’t have the volume up – we wanted to be able to hear the speeches. We heard the concession speech and victory speeches in our living room – perhaps two of the best speeches I heard this past campaigning season.

As for 9/11/2001, I remember that day … I woke up a little late and the first plane had already hit a tower. I was watching on tv. Then I decided to get to campus (about 3 miles away) but I didn’t want to take the train in Chicago – who knew if there would be other attacks and I didn’t want to be in a crowded place. So I biked down Sheridan, holding my breath and hoping nothing happened at a target like Wrigley Field (again, who knew what was going on) while I biked past it. Then I got to school, found out classes were cancelled for the day, and watched everything ad nauseum on tv with some friends. It took hours – even days – to hear back from everyone in NYC and DC. Most everyone I knew survived except for a babysitter I had when I was younger who worked in one of the towers.