Tonight I watched my latest Netflix delivery: Iron Jawed Angels.  Hilary Swank, Anjelica Huston, Patrick Dempsey… it’s about the last years of women’s suffrage and the extraordinary efforts of the suffragists.  It was unreal.  Though it was certainly dramatized, the power of the story cannot be denied.  To watch these women marching and being taunted and beaten and imprisoned and force fed - all so that I could wear that silly little "I voted" sticker.  It’s such a given, isn’t it?  Of course women can vote.  Why wouldn’t they?  Most people alive today have never lived in - or certainly don’t remember - a time when women couldn’t vote.  Perhaps that’s why we’ve become so complacent about it.  I’ve always had a sort of excitement about voting… but after seeing this movie, I’m just reminded of the fact that it’s not just a right, it’s a responsiblity - to them, to ourselves, to each other.  How can we think about how people suffered and fought and demanded this privilege, and then say "Oh, my vote doesn’t count."  Maybe your vote won’t tip your state’s electoral count.  Maybe it won’t be the one that passes or doesn’t pass the amendment.  But how can anyone look at what people went through - in the American Revolution, in the Black suffrage movement, in the Women’s suffrage movement - and say, "nah… I’ll just sit this one out."  I’m getting preachy and soapbox-y, I know.  But I can’t help it.  I am always moved by the power and passion of a group of people coming together for something they believe in.  And this movie was such a stirring account of that.  And it was very interestingly done, too.  The music and cinematography were distinctly modern.  It was as if we were diliberately told not to sit back and watch this historic piece about 100 years ago.  Instead it was demanded that we hear the story through today’s filter, as part of today’s world.

And boy howdy… it worked.