While I walk and knock, call and text, write and read, I continually find people who speak of a sensation of isolation in a "sea of red." But these individuals are many. One of my goals in canvassing and outreach is to help ameliorate these impressions of isolation for people I make contact with. This experience of engaging the electorate of my district has been profoundly human and empowering.
Today, after speaking for a few moments with a voter I received a spontaneous hug and "thank you." This person related how isolated she felt and expressed gratitude for my willingness to go door-to-door. Such gratitude and appreciation remind me of my purpose, to connect. To help people remember they are not alone, and present opportunities for changemaking.
These connections, I hope, are not just from myself to solitary individuals. My goal is not build my own power or even to tell my own story. Rather, to attempt to weave together these many strands, individual stories and experiences into a collective voice. Not my voice. OUR VOICE. We are NOT alone, and I am here to remind people that decency, kindness, respect; these are NOT the minority opinion but they do not announce themselves with the intensity of hate and ignorance. These things are made known in modest, civil conversations.
I experience them almost daily in my conversations at the doors, in the hugs and handshakes I share, and in the waterI am gifted on the hot days. This humanity, which I am seeking out and finding in good measure, helps keep me moving along as I continue on, door-by-door, mile-by-mile in 90+ heat.