Simple Integrity

I have never known a better person, a more selfless individual or more loving human being. I speak of my maternal grandmother, 'Mammy' Bennett. She was the bedrock of her immediate and extended family and her Christlike living and caring demeanor was well known throughout the East St. Louis Village of Washington Park.

I think of Mammy often and about her impact on many lives. I thought about her yesterday while listening to a television debate regarding how to insure the integrity of America's next Presidential election. Of course, most Americans acknowledge that the Russians interfered with our  2016 Presidential election. When our nation was attacked December 7, 1941at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese our people from every political camp and all walks of life came together in a common cause. That same bipartisan patriotism rose to protect our country from future attacks the likes suffered on September 11, 2001.

Today the partisan greed and power grabbing desires gripping America stifles the patriotic apitite to address future election tampering. Our own a President refuses to accept the reality of the attack on America's democracy and as a result little if anything is being done to secure 2020 elections from the bad guys.

Mammy Bennett kept life simple and we Americans should keep the voting process simple. Mammy operated a grocery store for years in Washington Park during the 1940's. She carried many neighborhood families on credit. Each family had a little receipt book, which Mammy kept under her checkout counter. At the end of the week or month based upon how folks received paychecks,  Mammy would accept full or partial payment on accounts. Often she would absorb loss if she was aware of a family's hard times.' I would watch her take a receipt booklet on her lap and touch the end of her pencil to her tongue to moisten the lead. She would then write, " Paid in full.'

(Note: Grandpa E. V. Bennett had little knowledge of Mammy's benevolence, after all E.V. was a carpenter by trade and could get more mileage out of a used nail than you could imagine.)

Mammy did not have a computer. She did not have a cash register that told her how much change was coming back to the customer and back the there was no plastic payments with which to handle. All Mammy had was a little receipt book and a lead-pencil, which needed a tad bit saliva to jump start the notation.

If we Americans truly wish to secure election integrity, we need the return of the lead pencil days of old and the simple reminder to voters, 'keep your 'Mark X' inside the box.' There's an easy way to stifle the Cheater.
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Watch Out For The Cheater!