Three year-old grandson Elijah’s a joy. He’s joyful! He’s loving. He’s funny. He makes me smile with his summersaults, singing and dancing. He makes me proud of him every morning when he helps fill Barclay’s bowl with his prescription dog food. Like Barclay, Elijah sees no evil, hears no evil, and speaks no evil, but he recoils at the sound of meanness.
Elijah isn’t mean. He loves Nora; Nora loves him. Elijah doesn’t know he’s Black; Nora doesn’t know she’s White. No one is superior at daycare.
Elijah doesn’t know what a country is, let alone that there’s something wrong with it, or how to make it great. He hasn’t learned to fear people like those who lynched 14 year-old Emmett Till in 1955, or their White nationalist offspring: the Boogaloo Bois, the Wolverine Watchmen, and the Proud Boys “staying back and standing by” with their pistols and rifles loaded if things don’t go their way in the 2020 election.
My grandson is too young to know the names of Medgar Evers, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, James Baldwin, W.E.B. Dubois, Paul Robison, Congressmen John Lewis and Elijah Cummings, President Barack Obama . . . or Trevon Martin, Freddie Gray, Philando Castille, Botham Jean, Breonna Taylor, Atatiana Jefferson, George Floyd, and countless other unarmed people like him who were killed by the police.
EMMETT TILL on Christmas Day, 1954. Photograph taken by Mamie Till Bradley. 
President Barack Obama awarding Presidential Medal of FreedomCongressman John Lewis
Elijah is three years-old. He didn’t see President Obama award the Presidential Medal of Honor to Civil Rights Movement hero Congressman John Lewis, or President Trump bestow the same honor on Rush Limbaugh whose daily radio broadcasts are seances with Joe McCarthy.
When I came home from voting with the bright red sticker I VOTED, Elijah recognized the letters. He knows his ABC’s. Someday I’ll tell him I voted for him and for all his friends and enemies.
Gordon C. Stewart, Chaska, MN, October 29, 2020
Views from the Edge 
I’m with Barb. I voted for him too. Keep praying that enough people recognize the imperative to vote for coming generations.
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I knew both Kidders would purr on this one and that you likely had voted. I’m still trying to get my head around how we got to this place.
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Thanks for your words Gordon. I voted for
joyful, loving, innocent Elijah and his one year older loving peer, my great niece Fiona. I’m sure they would hug❤️
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Hugs to Fiona from Elijah and from me to you, Linda. Vote as often as you can. 🙄
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beautiful and inspirational
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Thank you, Someone.
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i love this
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Glad it struck a chord, Beth.
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I miss Elijah on here. So glad to see him again. I voted for him too.
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I knew you’d vote for him!!! Only competition might be a Kidder kitty-cat.
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Thank you for your story today. Gentle. Innocent. Loving. As Hammerstein and Rogers gave notes to “You have to be carefully taught….” Barkley’s RX food. Jesse’s RX Food, Rx Probiotic for dogs taking antibiotics.
Best,
Jim
James B Haugh
On Thu, Oct 29, 2020, 7:12 PM Views from the Edge wrote:
> Gordon C. Stewart posted: ” Three year-old grandson Elijah’s a joy. He’s > joyful! He’s loving. He’s funny. He makes me smile with his summersaults, > singing and dancing. He makes me proud of him every morning when he helps > fill Barclay’s bowl with his prescription dog food. Like Barc” >
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Barclay has been eating rabbits for six-plus years after trying everything else. I hope Jesse is doing better! Stay well out there, Jim!
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