Letter to Sarah Silverman.

Dear Sarah

I know you are much too busy and important to read fan mail so I decided to post this letter on my blog. I am sure you read it daily. Doesn’t everyone? I recently saw your political ad for Senator Obama. I must admit that I found it not amusing and highly offensive. I know you are a comedian or at least some people think so but there are some things that just aren’t funny. Things like saying that if your grandmother doesn’t vote for Obama then you won’t visit her next year and that hopefully she won’t get sick. You will feel really bad if she does get sick or dies after saying what you did. So let me tell you about my grandmothers.

I knew them both and had them in my life thorough out my entire youth. Grandma Green was born in upstate NY in a little town named Alfred. She had 6 children which she raised alone after her husband left her. They lived in a small house on the edge of a gravel pit and the town’s people gave her the nickname Gravel Greenie. She had a hard life which was made even harder when she contracted TB. Back then, everyone who got TB usually died so they farmed out her children to other families and sent her to an insane asylum to die. She was a tough one though and pulled through. This was unheard of in those days. After she regained her strength, she set out to reunite her family and she managed to get all her children back. Later she moved to Florida and lived the remainder of her years there in the same town as her daughters.


Grandma Lottie was born Carlotta Jones but later married a Cushing and she became Lottie Cushing. Her husband was an alcoholic and in fact the town drunk. The only memory I have of him was lying in bed, passed out with a bottle of whiskey beside him. He died when I was very young. Lottie raised her 6 children alone just like Grandma Green. She would drive the school bus for our town’s grade school and then stayed at school and cooked lunch. In the afternoon she again drove the school bus, taking the kids home. She was able to keep any leftover food from the school cafeteria to help feed her children. She was very well known and respected in our little town.


Both of my grandmothers died while I was serving in the Navy, on a submarine, thousands of miles from home and hundreds of feet below the ocean. When Lottie died, I was called to the XO’s stateroom and handed a piece of paper with a 25 word message telling me that she had died and that my wife would be attending the funeral in my absence. I wasn’t notified when my other grandmother died. I didn’t have the luxury of spending time with my grandmothers before they died. I loved them for who they were and not who they voted for. How dare you make such a statement concerning them, joking or not. I really don’t think you were joking or funny. You should be ashamed. Now that I have that off my chest I feel better.

Have a wonderful day,
Greg

Comments

Well put, well said! I miss my Granny so much and would never wish not to be with her or by her side just because she would not vote for someone that I wanted her to vote for!!

Sorry to hear (read) about your family issues, I too am dealing with some family stuff too. I'll keep your in my prayers!
Scarlet said…
Your grandmothers sounded like two ladies I would've loved to know. I love a spirit that doesn't quit, don't you??
Becky said…
Bless you Greg and I agree completely. Grandmothers/parents are a sacred essence (for lack of a better word) in our lives. I am amazed at the life mine accomplished without all the amenities we have today and raising six kids no less. They were not well off either. My Grandma moved a few years ago a couple of states away. With four kids of my own I have only been able to visit her twice. She hasn't even met my youngest...

...great now I'm cryin' :-p

P.S. My Love was in the Navy. Served on the Saipan (sp?) during Dessert Storm and his father served on the Enterprise.
Marjie said…
I didn't even see that ad and I'm offended! Good for you for saying something. I am offended that the whole world seems to be telling me I should vote for Obama because he's "wonderful". Or something. Or, as he said in the primaries, "We are The One we've been waiting for." Really? Hmmm.
Wanda said…
Well said, and I'm so glad you did say it!!!

I would have loved to have your grandmothers.... I was not so fortunate. Both mine died when I was very young, and I never got to know them. However, I had an Aunt Cassie.. (My mother's older sister) who was the closest thing to grandma you could have... I loved her deeply and visited with her almost every day until she passed away at 98 last year.

You are a good man, Greg Cushing!! A very good man.
marine's words said…
love the stories about your grandmothers love the way your grandmother came back too health she was a strong women & and so was your other grandmother would of love to hear there stories.

that is so sad someone would say what they did.

grandmothers are beauitful people. marina
Wow, you come from strong stock--strong, admirable, capable female stock. I know about that TB stuff from hearing my 82 year-old mom talk about what it was like if you contracted that. Your grandmother's story is AMAZING. Both stories are. I think the young comedienne is just that, young and ignorant, in the sense of of not having any life experience to understand what matters most. She'll get it someday.
Ruth L.~ said…
Good for you! Listen to your heart and emotion, and be true to them both! I miss my grandmother that I grew up with. the one I resemble, so they say, died before In was born.
Kelly said…
What a tribute to your grannies. Thanks Greg. And thank you for serving our country. My husband is a veteran as well. He is a US Military Academy grad, and a Vietnam vet.

So thanks for your service. And your sacrific. Duty, honor, country. (or as you better said it on my blog: God, then country.)
Daisy said…
Your post made me cry. I have seen the Sarah Siverman ad and I didn't think it was funny either. Not one bit.
Sandi McBride said…
Wow...I'm speechless...great post...all I can say is "my sentiments exactly".

Sandi
sandy said…
Wow Greg, I enjoyed reading about your grandmothers. What strong women they were.
Susan Skitt said…
Well done Greg.

How can people like this Sarah woman be so disrespectful?

Your grandmothers sounded like strong and gracious women in the face of severe hardship. I am sorry you weren't able to be there after they died. Thanks for sharing about their lives.

I did not hear this "comedian" but it makes me sick that someone can joke about family like that. I hope Sarah Silverman reads this post and takes note.

Have a great rest of the weekend.
The Blonde Duck said…
Sarah Silverman is a terrible lady. She's not funny at all.
Kati said…
Nice new look to your blog, Greg!

Amen to what you've said. Personally I'll be voting for Obama next month, but my decision has no basis on how I feel for my family. (Well, ok, some of the obvious predjudices about democrats [my dad] AND black folks [Aunt Millie] AND islam [Uncle Eldon] bug me, but it doesn't mean I don't love them. I just try to stay off political topics with them. And actually, I DON'T care for Uncle Eldon, but he's my hubby's uncle and a hypocrite all around, so loving him isn't REALLY required of me. I accept that God loves him, and his wife loves him, and he's obviously a human so I've got to have THAT much respect for him, but all in all I can't stand the guy.)

And, Sarah Silverman is not funny, has never been funny, and likely never WILL be funny if she doesn't change her attitude toward life. Exaulting a druggie lifestyle as she and so many of her ilk do is NOT funny. Being crude and coarse and happy to remain so is NOT funny. You're not the only one who doesn't think much of that girl.
Jamie Dawn said…
Your post brought to mind my marvelous Gramillo, my dad's mother. I was very close to Gramillo, and I've posted about her and my grandpa in the past.
I did not see Silverman's ad, and I'm glad I didn't.
I'm voting for the McPalin ticket any way.
It's sad that those of us who adored and cherished our grandmas didn't have more time with them. I was with my dear Gramillo right up to the end, and I would have given just about anything to have had another fifteen years or so with her, so my kids could have gotten to know her. She was only 66 when she died, and my kids were ages 1 and 3 at the time.
I can sense the pride in this post of yours.
Your grandmothers were strong, loving women.
Monogram Queen said…
NOTHING like Grandmothers and I would smack Sarah Silverman if I could get close enough.

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