"Bring Us Some Hope" from Erie, Pennsylvania
Mon Mar 24, 2008 at 11:11:02 PM PDT
I've been making regular donations to the Obama campaign for the last couple of months. I've always left the "story" field blank. But tonight I was feeling a little more impassioned. I was thinking about my own history and the history of the people I've met over the years. I was thinking about all of the reasons, the really personal reasons, that this election really matters.
So, I began telling my story, but it quickly turned into someone else's story -- a story about a lady who really touched my heart and made me want to fight so much harder for change. I decided that I would share this story with you all tonight because if she inspired me, then maybe she'll inspire you too. It is these personal stories that inspire me, that make me want to do more. This is the story that I wrote tonight into that "story" field:
This is personal for me. For fifteen years I was a registered Republican on the inside of the corporate world. Seeing firsthand how hardworking Americans are forced to compete directly against billions of impoverished, desperate workers made me frightened for the future of our country and for the survival of our way of life. I saw firsthand how corporations chase the cheapest and most exploitable labor pools. Corporations move jobs overseas because they can pay third-world workers a fraction of American wages – and there are few, if any, regulations that require them to treat workers and their communities with respect. I know this firsthand from my own work.
My grandfather, my uncles, my brother all fought for this country. My grandfather always said that he did not fight for this piece of land that we call America –- he fought for our way of life, for the American dream. Today, though, the American dream has been ripped away from millions of Americans.
Four years ago I traveled across the country as a registered Republican campaigning against Bush. At the time I was unique, but today Obama has brought many of us into his movement for change. I changed to Independent previously, and this year Obama inspired me to become an official democrat and support other democratic candidates. I've even donated to the DNC. But that's not what this story is about...
In 2004 campaigning against Bush, I met worker after worker in state after state whose job had been shipped overseas even though these people worked hard and did everything right. I met a man in Des Moines who had been outsourced twice. I met a lady in Seattle who told me her new American dream was just not to be a burden on her children. I met workers who were forced to train their replacements in exchange for severance pay.
But there was a lady in Erie, Pennsylvania who especially touched my heart. She spent a little more than a decade working for a factory, and then a car accident left her permanently disabled and unable to work in the factory anymore. She was designated with permanent disability status and could have received a disability check for the rest of her life. But she was determined not to be a burden on anyone else and to make a new life for herself. She spent several years attending a university in Pennsylvania and graduated with honors and dual degrees, in Mathematics and Computer Science.
But at nearly fifty years old, she was unable to find work. But even with dual degrees, there was no job for her. With her home in foreclosure and her student loans in default, she sent a $10 donation to our organization. I didn't even want to cash the check. She had been having medical and dental problems that she could not afford to see anyone about.
The next time I heard from her, she sent a letter telling me that she had lost two of her front teeth. For the first time ever, she did not sound upbeat. Before this letter, no matter how bad things got for her, she always said she still had hope. This time she wrote to me that no one would ever hire anyone with two front teeth missing. She sent seven one dollar bills folded into that letter. I could feel the desperation in the words that she wrote, "Please use this money to bring us some hope. We need some hope. Just bring us some hope. There are millions of us, and all of our hope is gone."
I’ve lost touch with her now, but I’ll never forget her. Jacqueline, this is for you. Hope is on the way, and on November 2nd, 2008, hope will arrive.
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