HOPE NO MATTER WHO WINS
Bonds that outlast an election
I’ve just finished yet another conversation with someone “apolitical” who is working to get the vote out on Nov. 8, 2022.
It’s so surprising. Yes, last winter, I talked to people when I was writing postcards to encourage voters in Georgia. They nodded and murmured politely. But now, my eyebrows are in the middle of my forehead over how many of them are taking specific action steps.
Postcards, calls, texts, letters to college newspapers, buses to other states to canvas — I’m just blown away at how much is being done by so many.
I’ll admit I’ve been feeling hopeless. One side playing by the rules, the other side ripping up the rule book. Majority preferences clearly stated, ignored, and minority cruelty imposed.
And yet — all these people now involved who previously didn’t even consider it. Just in my small circle, it’s nearly everyone. They don’t make a big deal about it, they mention it in passing, “I can’t have lunch on Saturday because we’re on a texting bank for Wisconsin voters.”
Another pro-active friend? Sure, I can handle lunch by myself for two more weeks.
After the first surprising conversation, I worried that my friends would be discouraged if the vote went to the up-front liars. But now, I wonder. Maybe all this involvement, this combined action, foretells something even better than winning a single election.
What if all these different, small, unifying actions create bonds between people that will hold community together no matter the outcome? What if the organization of many, many “little people” creates a power greater than we’ve seen before? What if these connections are just what we’ll need for the future?
What if this is changing, one person by one person, the attitude that “we” don’t count and only “they” with the “important jobs” can accomplish anything?
I sense something new bubbling under the surface. Something better.
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