A Tale of Two Cousins

Today, a tale of two cousins.  Both are teachers and both live in Florida.  One is my first cousin, and the other is my spouse's first cousin.  One is a native of Florida.  One grew up in New Jersey.  One lives in the Orlando area and the other is near Ft. Lauderdale.  One teaches elementary school and the other teaches high school.

One voted for Trump and proudly declared her support of Trump on Inauguration Day.

For the other cousin, she does not declare her political views on Facebook, but made it clear, after Trump's inaugural speech, that she was not pleased at his remarks about children and education.  She is a devoted teacher.  In fact, many, many years ago, when she first started to teach, I helped her set up her classroom one year, during a visit.

Two cousins.

Two backgrounds.

Two opinions.

But there are things these two cousins have in common.  They were able to get an education, and pursue a career.  They were able to choose whether to have children or not have children.  They both had the right to vote (although one of them had to wait until she was 21 to get that right. The other received that right at 18).

The "Lawn" at the University of Virginia, January 2017

Now, consider this.  When the buildings you see in this picture (not the columns in the front, but the buildings you see on either side, designed by founding father Thomas Jefferson) were built, slavery was legal and even the wives of faculty members were barely tolerated.  This university was not fully co educational (i.e. women did not have an equal ability to go to this college) until the year 1970. 

That was also the year I enrolled in a college.  It's sobering.

Back then, women attending college were still called "co-eds".  Now, they are called "people".

It was a way different world back then.  I, personally, do not want to go back, as appealing as nostalgia can sometimes be.

We have a lot of work ahead of us to make sure that never happens.


Day 22 of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.