by John Plante – Okaloosa Democrats
One of the hard things to do in life can be to step up. I don’t mean in terms of stepping up at work during an emergency at your office job or even in the middle of a major crisis. I mean in terms of being able to commit to something larger than yourself, to lead that effort and be persistent in the face of adversity. Never before has this country needed qualified people to step up, to lead.
Truth is, we need more people to volunteer and go into elected service and we need people to come out and support these candidates.
I volunteer at an area food pantry (help with publicity), have volunteered and occasionally volunteer at our local elementary school as well as with the Okaloosa Dems. Volunteering can be hard, but the impact people, ordinary people can have on their communities can be immense.
My wife started me on my path to volunteerism, college clinched it and kids in cages (we adopted children from foster care) and GOP nastiness brought me to volunteer for the Okaloosa Dems.
I’ve always loved the Meme that says, as an adult, when something goes wrong in a crowded room, you pop up your head like a meerkat, looking around for someone to be an adult, an adultier adult – but as the Trump administration sent a wave of darkness across the Nation, myself and others I know kind of went the path of looking for the adultier adult to step up in the room and stop all the evil from happening. And it’s not like adultier adults didn’t exist, we needed more of them.
And we still do. I know there are powerful people out there in the world, adultier people who have capability that can cast light against the darkness.
I’m not just asking people to join their local Democrats here. I’m asking for ALL organizations people can give their time to. Food pantries are going to need support, scholarships and community groups are going to need to be funded and yes – political campaigns and political entities will need people on the ground again at some point and we need people in cyberspace now.
And no matter how hard the setbacks we see before us, we need to fight. Colin Powell would tell us optimism is a powerful thing. It is greater than despair. If you have hope, you have optimism, use that to rekindle it in others. Rekindle it in yourself. Optimism lends strength to others, leads them.
Nearly every vulnerable group has been in some way victimized by this administration. For some, it could be as simple as the pain of watching American ideals and our Nation’s integrity wither under the shadow of corrupted virtues and religion. For others it could be watching groups, our friends and family become increasingly marginalized or you could be the marginalized. It could be the crush of the economy, the difficulty in finding and affording healthcare. It could be watching in agony as school children died due to the political apathy of the Republican Party. The list goes on and on, but truth is, we all have souls here and what we are being buried by is probably a combination of all these things and more.
The GOP wants to crush us. It’s why they bait us; it’s why they call us snowflakes and libtards. It’s why they attack so many things we hold dear en masse. It’s why they lie about us, misrepresent and slander us. And it’s why they are cruel to the vulnerable. They want us outraged to the point of inaction. And they use a combination of institutional, political and corporate/economic principles (and more) to attack us. It’s why they use the threat of disease to dissuade us from voting in person at the polls.
We’ve reached a point where it is up to us, the voters to stand up to Trump directly. While shelter programs fall under the ax of Trump policies and budget, they need to be shored up. And most of all, we need people to help bring out the vote. There are people out there looking for that adultier adult in the room. Each of us can be that adult. Find that program that sings to you – support that candidate that makes you want to dance and bring your experience, your best pre-Trump attitude forward.
And when you find that person who is down, looking for that adultier adult, hold out your hand out in friendship, lift them up and welcome them to the fold. Not just because it needs to be done; it’s the right and human thing to do.
And if you are one of those special few who have the power to raise your voice for Democracy – if you are an all-in Democrat – please consider running in 2020, even in a place where you may not win. You could be that adult everyone is looking to for guidance. You could be that adult we need to elevate other candidates to wins and bring Blue Wave wins to your area if it’s not already Blue or hold the line where it is.
