Have you ever heard the expression, “Fair is a place you play games and ride rides?” Well I hadn’t either until I met my husband, Mark, almost 40 years ago. He used this expression often with our four children-anytime one of them would say, “That’s not fair!” I also heard “That’s not fair” quite often during my 18-year teaching career.
I learned early in my life that “Life is not fair.” My father was a teacher, like many other members of our family. He was later a principal, a superintendent, as well as the varsity boys basketball coach. He taught his children and his players the value of hard work, respect for others, love of God and family and the responsibility to help our neighbor.
At the young age of 42 my father found out that he esophageal/stomach cancer. After a little more than a year, and with much suffering in between, my father died at the age of 43. He left behind my mother and my four siblings. But he also left me with many life lessons.
- The work ethic that I learned will enable me to work tirelessly for my constituents. I will be a fulltime public servant who will be in constant contact with the people of my district.
- The respect for people that I learned will allow me to work with my fellow legislators that are on the other side of the political spectrum. I want to work together with them to improve the life of all Ohioans.
- The love of God and family will be a constant in all of the decisions that I make. I will be focusing on the love that we all have for our families. Most of us just want to give our children the best life possible. However, I will also adhere to our Constitution that states that we shall have a separation between the church and the state.
- The responsibility to help my neighbor will have me working, in the words of Jesus, for “the least of these”. This means that we should take care of the poor, the widow, the orphan, the alien, the sick, the addict.
Through the lessons that I learned from my father and from his illness, I have developed a deep-seated desire to make life as fair as possible for all people. We need to fight to make sure that everyone has enough food to eat, a place to call home, a stable good-paying job that allows them to provide for their families, and affordable healthcare-so that no one has to choose between buying food or buying their medicine and so that no one has to declare bankruptcy due to medical bills. It’s also vital that every student has the opportunity to receive an equal and adequate education: an excellent education no matter where they live or the circumstances of their life.
If you elect me, Beth Workman, these are the things that I will be fighting for. I will be listening to and working for YOU, my constituents.
We need to start taking care of the working people, not the wealthy people. We need to help pull up the little guy, not pushing him back down to benefit the powerful.
YOU DESERVE BETTER! WE ALL DESERVE BETTER! A vote for Beth Workman on November 3rd will be a vote for a better life for all Ohioans.