#30DaysWild Day Seven – Election Eve

Another June, another vote.  We had to wait until day 23 of last year’s #30DaysWild to be asked to put our cross in a box – a simple action with huge ramifications.

Last year, the Purple, white and green colours I spotted on the way to and from our polling station reminded me of the suffragettes’ choice of colours symbolising dignity, purity and hope.

This year, I am in the middle of reading the fabulous book Goodnight Stories for Rebel Girls by Elena Favilli and Francesca Cavallo and, among the bedtime stories about the life of 100 extraordinary women from the past and the present, which include tales of a paleontologist, mountaineers, a naturalist, primatologist and marine biologist, is the tale of New Zealand suffragette Kate Sheppard.

The quotation the authors chose to highlight alongside her portrait is one that draws a parallel from nature:

“Do not think your single vote does not matter much.  The rain that refreshes the parched ground is made up of single drops”.

Appropriate not only to this month’s challenge but also to the weather we’re experiencing so far during it!

Tomorrow will also be the anniversary of the death of UK suffragette Emily Davison who died fighting for women’s suffrage.

Even my four year old seems to be on message.  Suggesting to daddy on the way home from nursery that they should buy mummy some flowers (obviously I’ve done something right there!) he picked out the purple, green and white ones.

With fox hunting, fracking and the ivory trade all under question, and the example another recently elected world leader has set by pulling his country out of the Paris Climate Agreement, our “single drops” could be more important than ever.