AmlakE... feTariyE

The grandmother-in-law just became a registered voter, goaded, by the way, by one of the great-grand children who came home from first grade after participating in mock mid-term elections.

Grandmother-in-law asked the grown-ups why they never told her about this thing-- this voting thing. Grown-ups slinked away murmuring something about cleaning the gutters. Grandmother-in-law now thinks the fruits of her loins are rotten.

Grandmother-in-law now adds this line to her morning prayers: “AmlakE, feTariyE… dehnawun sew asmeriTeN…” Her nimble fingers speed through her rosary beads with assembly line efficiency. Rat-tat-ta-ta-ta…. “AmlakE feTariyE, ke erkuss sew sewireN. Antew ijEn yizeh asmeriTeN… Mela’ktoch, Emiye Mariyam.. ke innE gar teselefu.” (“My Lord, my Creator... save me from electing a heretic. Angels, Our Mother, line up with me as I vote.”)

The guilt of putting someone in office who might turn out to be a scoundrel now weighs heavy on grandmother-in-law. She frets if she votes in the wrong person she would have imposed injustice on people.

So, every morning, she looks up towards the heavens and in her raspy voice… "feTariyE… amlakE…" (“my Creator… my Lord…”)

If only the rest of us had half the angst and a quarter of the reverence for the right to vote for our leaders.