To My Granddaughter with Love

Tonight we witnessed history being made. We were in the front row. Personalities and political preferences aside, this is as exciting as it gets for all of us who love this nation! One of our major political parties nominated a woman to be President of the United States and leader of the free world. Never mind that it took us 227 years of electing presidents to finally reach this milestone. We did it! I couldn’t help thinking of my mother all evening as I watched the convention. I’m not sure I ever appreciated during my mom’s lifetime that beneath her ultra-conservative surface lived the spirit of a progressive which never fully revealed itself. There were glimmers, however, such as her love for President Bill Clinton and her enthusiastic desire to see Hillary also become president. Hillary will never know what a fan she had in my mom, and I only wish Mom could have been here tonight to see her wish become a possibility.

In only five generations of women in my own family, life has just made a 180-degree change. My grandmother was born in 1887; she was 33 years old before she was even allowed to vote. My mother was born in 1922, just two years after women won voting rights, so she was among the first generations of women to exercise that privilege. I was born in 19–, and I grew up taking for granted the right to vote, but it wasn’t until 1984 when Walter Mondale picked Geraldine Ferraro as his vice presidential running mate that the possibility of actually voting for a female vice president or someday president became a reality.

By the time my daughter was born in 1982, the right to vote was a given, and she grew up knowing that girls could think about running for president but that it would probably be a while before she’d actually see that happen. As it turns out, she waited 34 years to witness this event. My granddaughter was born in 2011, and July 26, 2016, is one of the dates which will define her generation. Tonight the first woman nominated to be president of the United States spoke to my granddaughter and every other little girl when she said, “I may become the first woman president, but one of you will be next.”

When I was growing up, people proclaimed proudly and often, “This is the country where any little boy can grow up to be president.” Those people were bragging about our democracy and the fact that our country doesn’t have a king or a dictator, that our rulers are not chosen from an elite family or class. Any boy from any family can dream of becoming president and can aspire to achieve his dream if he’s willing to do the work. In 2008, we witnessed another historic moment when we elected the first African-American to be our president, because of course, implicit in “any little boy can be president” was the caveat “any white boy.”

Tonight we’ve told our daughters and our granddaughters, “Any little girl can grow up to be president.” And since the color barrier has already been broken, that means any little girl—regardless of skin color or ethnicity. I’m proud to pass on this dream to my daughter and my granddaughter, and especially to be able to assure Kayla as she grows that she truly can be anything her heart can dream of. She’s only four now, so she won’t know that things were ever different. When she reads in her high school history books that the first woman was nominated to be president on July 26, 2016, she’ll be surprised when she realizes how recently she earned the right to dream that dream. Maybe she won’t want to be president, but she can be if she wants. Tonight we enlarged the world for all of our little girls.

Kayla, you were born into a world with lots of problems. I’m sorry you will go through school having to practice what to do if a crazy person starts shooting in your classroom. I’m sorry you can’t have the freedom to roam and play as I did when I was a child. I’m sorry my generation has depleted the world’s resources and damaged its ecosystems because of our greed and irresponsibility. I’m sorry we’re not leaving you the world we hoped to leave you. But as of July 26, 2016, I’m proud to leave you a world in which you are empowered to be one of the leaders and problem solvers. You have the power and the opportunity. Dream big, darling girl, because you can!