The Difference

Last night as our family was glued to the laptop following election returns, Zach saw a side by side photo like this on the screen. Here is what he said to me (which I quickly wrote down so as not to forget). This was completely unprompted.

"What's the difference between Obama and John McCain? McCain has white hair and Obama has dark hair. McCain is old and Obama looks young. Obama is always smiling and McCain is not."

I love what he saw and what he didn't see and what he found important enough to point out. I love that he was trying to figure out for himself what mattered to him.

All through the election from the primaries to yesterday Z has been saying he wanted Obama to win "because you want him to win mommy." And I always say to him the same thing, "You should never vote for someone because mommy or daddy or anyone else says they like them. You need to make up YOUR OWN MIND about what you think is important and who you believe will make the best decisions for the people of our country. It's YOUR CHOICE."

After some thought he said, "Then I want to vote for Gavin, because he is the nicest person I know." Gavin is a little friend of his who is about as sweet as they come, and Z has known him since they were both babies. So all along Z has been doing quite a campaign for Gavin. He was thrilled when his Tio & Tia called and said they even voted for Gavin ;)

But yesterday, as the thrill of the actual voting day swept over us, he changed his mind. He asked me if he could make a sign for Obama. Which he painted all on his own, and it's now displayed in our car.
(I think that's supposed to be a pumpkin at the end of the name there....)



Then when NPR mentioned that Obama's grandmother died, Zach heard it and got very sad. His Grandpa and Grandma also live in Hawaii and so this hit a little close to home for him. He said to me, again unprompted, "I want to write a letter to Barack Obama telling him I am sorry about his grandma dying, ok mama. Will you mail it please?"

So he drew a nice picture (I forgot to photograph it before we sealed it up) and he asked me to write the following:

"Dear Obama,
Do you know me? I am sad for you that your grandma died. I hope you win. I like you.
Love, Zach
I live on a boat."

And we mailed it off.



After Obama won last night, Zach said he wanted to write another letter... asking Obama and his wife and daughters if they wanted to have a sleep over on the boat.
:)

I hope we don't end up with a "special government file" for continuing to mail letters like that. Although, if you know my family, we probably already have a "special file", so why not?


YES WE CAN! YES WE DID!