I have a confession to make. I am not an activist. I never have been. I talk a good game and I can get pretty hot under the collar when I’m preaching to the choir. But other than that, I’m just a moderately informed political junky who donates money from time to time and votes whenever I get the chance. I tried doing some phone banking once. It was painful. That being said, I have another confession to make. I met Sharron Angle this morning at my place of employment and I didn’t have the courage to laugh in her face.
I had no idea she was coming until she was literally standing in my office door, with our CFO introducing me. I went into a state of shock upon realizing who she was. My first impression was that she was shorter than I expected. And her entourage was smaller too. There was plenty of intensity (read "crazy") in her eyes. She has a great handshake and makes solid eye contact. All I was able to say without violating my values outright was "It’s a pleasure to meet you" and "thank you for visiting our office" and I could probably defend those statements if pressed to elaborate. It was a pleasure to have the unique experience of meeting the person I will vote against in November. I do love unique experiences.
She visited our company for about an hour, behind closed doors with senior managers for most of the time. I assume they are donating generously to her campaign; they always back the conservatives. I can’t even imagine what they talked about, and will not be asking. I live in Las Vegas. Unemployment is around 14.5%. And I got a family to think about.
I’m fairly certain the reason I was introduced is that it would make for good fun, as I’m one of only a handful of liberals in management positions. I always walk a fine line and try not to get drawn into anything emotional. I ask more questions than I offer opinions. I stay cerebral and wonky, and that seems to make people feel safe – that and a sense of humor helps. And overall, my opinion is seldom dismissed. I’m not always consulted, but never ignored once engaged.
I’m sure they knew better than to ask me in advance what I thought about her coming to the office. And I am hardly surprised I was not asked to join the closed-door meeting.
But like I said, I am not an activist. And I’m sure I blew an amazing opportunity today. For those of you who sweat blood fighting the good fight, I wish I could have switched with one of you. I would have liked to have seen what someone with courage would have done standing in my shoes, in my office door, looking down...
Not sure the point of all this. I just thought you’d like to know. And I'm curious, given the same opportunity, what would you have done with it?