From The Basement with The Gimp
Whatever pain The Gimp could be exposed to by The Master (or is it The Mistress?) upstairs, it could never be equated to that of families who lost everything to gain us this freedom, which accorded us the powers to decide how we should be governed.
Some citizens may seem oblivious to the powers held by their respective votes, just as they could be about those who lost their lives fighting for the right to be able to matter.
Some have called for a boycott to that fundamental right, but when every hope appears lost, the only thing that we could ever desire in life is the right to speak out. We may not be heard, but at least we have that freedom to speak. Our spoken words may be ignored, but at least we shall have spoken it. Should we remain silent because nobody wants to hear us? Should we boycott casting our votes because our choices may never prevail at the polls?
The answers to those two quips would be a resounding NO! We should always speak even if nobody hears nor listens. We should always exercise our rights to vote even if our preferred candidates won’t win. It’s called democracy for a reason… the individual party or candidate with the most votes carries the day.
From The Basement, I may not have any clue what this would mean, so lets cross the Atlantic and borrow words form Hilary R Clinton; “Voting is the most precious right of every citizen, and we have a moral obligation to ensure the integrity of our voting process.” Does that make any sense to any of you outside The Basement? It does to me, and it makes me envious of those whom the hard-earned freedom has granted the opportunity to be able to cast their votes, but letting it pass. Only if I could get out of The Basement…
These words got me trolling the virtual world and I came to the realization of those locked up in their respective basements.
Before The Gimp could even touch on Saudi Arabia or the Vatican City where women are forbidden to vote, lets revisit some indexes… ‘The Democracy Index’ published by The Economist. Well, the one that is available for The Gimp to examine is the 2012 issue.
In that Index, the occupiers of the last ten bottom slots should be enough to drive everyone out of their homes on a chilly Wednesday morning to go out and vote… North Korea, Central African Republic, Chad, Togo, Myanmar, Turkmenistan, Libya, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia. Would we want to be in those countries? Or would we want a return to those old days when the voices of specific race groups didn’t count? Would we rather return to those dark days when owners of voices of reason were brutally suppressed? Hell no!
But what does The Gimp know? Don’t I only breathe some fresh air whenever The Basement doors open for some torturous insects to be unleashed onto my already skinny body for the entertainment The Master?
Should we be thinking of ignoring this freedom so many spilt their blood to bring to us... The freedom that has enabled us to mention the names of such heroes like Mandela,Tambo, Hani, Biko, Sobukwe and many others; beyond fearing that we would be stripped and locked up at some undisclosed basements… The freedom the youthful class of 1976 gave up their education for… The freedom that was born and turned into reality in 1994…
If that’s what could be in our minds, then lets reflect on the words of Dr Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam; “In a democracy, the well-being, individuality and happiness of every citizen is important for the overall prosperity, peace and happiness of the nation.”
Lets all go out this day and cast our respective votes. That is the least we can do in honour of the struggle veterans. Lets put some smiles onto their faces.
And that’s The letter from The Basement with The Gimp