Today I am full of gratitude to my father and all the service men and women who have passed on. My father served well, with honors, when he was sent off to war in other countries. Then he came back home to fight Jim Crow in Tennessee.

Dad, I thank you with all my heart for your hard fight in the armed service and your hard fight back at home. I thank you and all the others who did the same, every one of you who never gave up.

In your memory and in their memory, I ask everyone who is not registered to vote to please pay their respects to you and others like you by registering to vote on this Monday. Yes! Our participation in the democratic process is not over yet! Keep the faith. Stay informed and engaged.

The next opportunity to vote is not four years from now. It’s at the midterm elections. Let us not let the brave service that the women and men performed for us and our great country be forgotten or wasted! Register! Read! Vote!

The next midterm election is Tuesday, November 6, 2018, and it’s a critical election day because all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 33 out of 100 seats in the Senate are up to us to decide by our vote. We can make a tremendous difference in how our country is governed on November 6, 2018 and, of course, again at the next general election on Tuesday, November 3, 2020.

Do your homework! Be prepared! Get ready! I pray that you continue to pursue all your dreams and hold your heads up high. You matter.