I've been reading all the accolades and thinking about my own situation. I'm often on a different wavelength than many others here. More times than I'd like I'll open my mouth and get ...crickets. Other times it rains anvils and pickaxes. But sometimes I connect, and then it's awesome. And even when I'm just lurking, I'm also learning.
I got here even before my UID indicates, under another name, sometime in early 2004. I was panicked about GWB and Iraq and the way our country was headed. When Kerry lost, DK was the only place that seemed halfway sane.
I was there when we first flexed our muscles with Sore Loserman. It didn't turn out as we'd hoped, but maybe that was to our advantage. Maybe the other side got a little complacent. I firmly believe this President would not have been elected without DK. Now we are still dealing with many of the problems we thought would be solved, and some new ones, besides. But when we speak up about something, those in power do listen. That's an accomplishment, any way you slice it.
This is a fractious bunch. I guess it goes with the territory. I stayed away for months once when things got too abusive, but I'm a little less fragile now. I could do without the occasional insults, but they are bearable because I get inspiration here, too, from those who are at the forefront of OWS, clean food, good government, election reform, private prison reform, civil rights for all, weather, physics, nuclear safety, encroachments on liberty, other social justice movements worldwide, pretty much everything that affects us all in our mutual struggle to survive on this precious planet.
It's not all good, as anyone following the sometimes very acrimonious debates over race, gender, and gay rights knows. Even though this is a virtual reality, it still hurts to be prejudged, misunderstood, and dismissed. It's painful to experience and witness prejudice and oppression in a community that, above all others, should know better.
So why come back? Because the good far outweighs the not-so-good. Everyone here can feel like they're part of something bigger by commenting, or even just by keeping up with the latest. This community cares, too, as shown by the beautiful quilts for those in need of healing, and the breaching of the virtual wall to intervene for the suicidally depressed. The hive system buzzes busily over everything, and sometimes valid ideas and comments disappear before they've been given a chance to blossom. But, usually, what makes it to the top and out into the discourse is very worthwhile indeed.
While my concerns and values aren't always the norm here, I do want a better world, a fairer one, a cleaner one, a safer one. Most everyone else here, I'm pretty sure, wants the same. Until that changes, like all imperfect, i.e. human, endeavors that can only survive by overlooking or forgiving the bad and concentrating on the good, I'll continue to have faith in my fellow human beings and know they're worth fighting for and caring about, even during those bleak moments when I feel like there is no evidence to justify that faith.
I show my faith in others and the world when I show up here.