Forgive me for veering off into semi personal territory but there's a few random thoughts i need to share
but first a word from my sponsor
Did you know that the NN Holiday Bazaar starts Thursday? Talk about shopping "local"!
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now back to random thoughts
So two years ago today I was sitting at home on a Saturday night watching a few episodes of West Wing on DVD. And I was missing my friend Sherry immensely. She was one of my first friends when I moved to PA back in 2000 and had moved to NM. There were two traditions we had: West Wing watching and 24 watching....and eating ...and drinking....and laughing...you get my drift.
So there I was watching West Wing and the phone rang...it was our friend Lynn and I knew right away it had to be bad news...Lynn rarely called and never that late on a Saturday night. Sherry had had a sudden heart attack in NM that afternoon and died.
What can I say about Sherry that countless others haven't said about myriads of their friends and loved ones? She was not only an amazing friend, she was my inspiration to get involved in politics in the first place. I think it's pretty safe to say that if not for Sherry I'd not be here writing this diary to begin with.
Sherry's life revolved around our county party. She was Vice-Chair and so much more. Her house was the center of county party activity- fundraisers for local candidates, phone banks, food storage for county party events like the corn roast and bbqs. Her house was my home away from home...somewhere to flee from reality and just laugh or cry.
And now she's not here to see all that I'm doing, but I know she'd be proud and I know she's up there laughing and saying "see I told you restaurants weren't where you were meant to be". Not a day goes by that I don't find myself doing something and thinking "gosh Sherry would have loved this.
What was really inspiring about Sherry was her sense of other. Her selfless service, not just in politics but in her everyday non political life too. Never judgemental, always ready with good advice when wanted and always willing to indulge in roasted chicken and lox for dinner with a side of White Russian for me and Margarita for her. She made everyone around her want to be better people and she helped to become better people.
To me that's a big part of what politics is about. It's about helping others to be the best they can be, while working towards being the best we can be as well. Some of the best political moments I've had have been when I hear about candidates doing things that help others.
Like when the Kennedy campaign in NC-05 held a series of bbq lunches on election day to feed the hungry people in their district...not just in the hope of votes, but in a genuine effort to give back. Like watching someone who had walked away from politics return because the people of his district were being denied a legitimate Democratic candidate due to shenanigans I hope to never see again. Like Rep. Raul Grijalva, who-yes- made a mistake in calling for a boycott, but did so out of his love for his district and his heritage and extreme anger at GOP shenanigans. I could go on and on about the good out there, but I think you get my drift.
So now, we're post election and I find myself involved in a variety of non election related political projects. Some of which you'll hear about here on the Great Orange Satan, some of which you may not...but they're valuable just the same. I also find myself asking, in the words of The West Wing's President Bartlett, "What's next?"
What's next for us as a progressive movement? Can we unite and find a common voice with which to help everyone? Can we learn to message and hold firm for our beliefs (and I don't just mean our elected officials, I mean all of us- our elected officials need to know we have their backs.
What's next for our country? Is there some way we can prevent the oncoming train from running us over and ruining our country for the next generation? Can we fix our economy, put people back to work, if not reverse at least diminish the horrible aftereffects of climate change, protect the least among us and be the best people we know how to be?
We have to. Failure is not an option here. As I think these thoughts I'm reminded of one of my last conversations with Sherry. We were talking about the election and how amazing it was how far the Democrats in Lancaster County had come- the growth, the strength, the unity despite our differences. It may not have been enough to win our congressional race there that year, but we were still winners. We had a strong group of conservadems and a strong group of progressives and yet we managed to agree to disagree and work for the better good for us all.
I was commenting on just that and she replied "I sure wish every county party could do what we've done there..." and then her call waiting rang in w/her daughter in Amsterdam so we said our good-byes...not realizing they were our last.
Those last words are what inspire me to this day. At the end of it all, I want to be able to say that though the things I do seem small, I played a small part in uniting progressives in our messaging and efforts and somehow made a difference in the lives of others.
Oh and I promised you a pootie right?