I often ask myself what is it about being a progressive/liberal/democrat that draws me to its philosophy. Well this is maybe my third diary or so and something yesterday so emotional and powerfully upsetting happened to me that it really stayed on my mind. This is will be my personal argument for why being such an ardent fits me and i think most of us here can attest to.
I was at my girlfriends apartment when her neighbor knocks on the door. I dont speak to them often because well they dont know me, but we exchange greetings whenever able.
So, the knock at the door occurs and I go an answer it and theres's an older lady sitting in an old launch chair in tears. Shes crying her heart out because of the physical pain that she's in. Shes gone to the hospital (you know the best medical treatment in america as we are told) and she has so many bills that going sets her off. She is adamant about not going because of the cost and is crying in front of me just begging for help. Her illness is more serious than it is day day, so anything that we had to give her would only be temporary and maybe not even that helpful.
She has amassed over 8k in in medical bills and refuses to go to get her condition checked out. With her niece and 2 grandchildren in front of her she sat there crying to this stranger about her health and how she just needed it to stop. Shed been sick all night and morning and just wanted it to go away. My Girlfriend has 2 children from a previous marriage and naturally they were just all in the sights and sounds of other people, so instead of hiding it from them we let them see what was going on. I think its important for our children to get a sense of how other people have it and explain to them that some people need help. So the lady continues asking me for something anything, and all we have is the simple stuff tylenol, robitusson, pepto, nothing serious.
I tell her that Id make a deal with her, that Id give her these little things if she promise to go to the doctor. I cant have on my heart that I gave somebody something temporary only for it not to help and them being worse off. So I pleaded with her to go, and she called her daughter and they went.
Im in the Marine Corps, which is great for learning how to lead, organize, teach and train but its also great for little quotes that can seem completely silly but come back to be pretty powerful. One of the sayings we have is Just one more. If we are riding in a 7 ton or throwing gear on the back the question is, how much room do we have. The answer is enough for one more. If you need a certain score on the range and you want to know how many more points you need, just one more. Sit Ups push ups, running whatever it is the answer is Just One More.
I think for me that statement sums up how I feel about the world. With so much beauty and creativity that exists it should be incumbent upon us to figure out solutions that will provide just one more person with the help they need to survive. If health care can be passed and it helps just one more person deal with crippling pain lets do it. If climate change legislation is passed and it helps just one more degree come down a year over 10 years its worth it. If we can pass legislation that end some of the highest crime rates in chicago, philly, LA, etc and get one more kid off the street and keep one more family from putting them in the grave than lets do it. How many immigrants can we allow in america before it gets out of hand and they "they" take our jobs, just one more. This list is endless because as liberals our work is endless until just one more is helped.
My hope for democrats in this election whether its a wave or not is that we can continue to find a way to answer the questions that plague us with the simple answer of Just one more.