And it's all your fault! Well, the faults of several Kossacks anyway. And especially this thread:
http://www.dailykos.com/...
For a long time my email signature was the Gandhi quote "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." My current signature is "We must become the change we want to see."
So this morning that's what I did.
Sitting here next to me is my Nomination Paper for the Office of Democratic Central Committee District 2 in Mariposa County, California. I also got the Democratic voter rolls for my district while I was there.
No, it's not a big deal. I'm not running for President, or Congress, or even to run the county committee. But I'm doing what I can to fix the hollow, broken shell that my party has become. And to me, that IS a big deal.
I AM THE CHANGE.
I thought about it a lot. Do I really want to do this? Can I honestly devote the kind of time needed to fill this elected position?
Yes. Yes I can. And I must. For the sake of everyone in my district, and my county, and my state, and my nation, and my world. I must do this. I must become the change I want to see. Because nobody else will.
I live in a very remote mountain area. The houses, where there are houses, are sometimes several miles apart down dirt or gravel roads. Our district has not had a representative to the committee in years, and I am running unopposed. If I don't do this, there will be no one else.
As I was driving into Mariposa, the county seat, I stopped in at the cemetary where my mother is buried and my father's memories linger. I pulled a few weeds away from her name and enjoyed the early daffodil buds I had planted a few winters back. "I'm doing this in your memory, to be the kind of strong woman you would have been proud of," I said. And I knew I was doing it for my son as well, to try and save what's left of the country I grew up in... the golden summers without war or bombings or terror alerts that I remember when I was nine. I turned nine in the summer of 1975, and the country was abuzz with the upcoming Bicentennial... we were all so patriotic and proud to be Americans then... but in a gentle, excited, birthday party-like way. Not like it is now.
So I go back in three weeks, signatures of nomination in hand, to formally declare my candidacy for a real honest-to-goodness elected office.
As someone said from a diary a few days ago...
Don't say "they should."
Say "I will."
I will change the Democratic party.
Can you imagine what would happen if everyone here did the same thing? If everyone did one real thing to make a difference beyond typing angry diaries or signing online petitions or laughing at right-wing pundits?
That's what I did this morning.
I became the change.