I'm donating my hair today.
It's down to my belt, and has been for about 15 years. It's thick, wavy, and dark brown. And it will soon belong to a child struck bald by illness.
This is an early, tangible sign of my commitment to give my all. Heart, mind, and body. The world will turn away from the path of destruction, intolerance, evil, and injustice. I will enter the belly of the beast, take a spot next to my comrades-in-arms, get my grubby paws on the greasy gears of state, and by putting my shoulder next to theirs, will turn this great ship aside from the rocky shoals we now speed towards.
I was in Iowa and New Hampshire in January, pounding the icy pavement for Howard Dean. He didn't win. I gave thousands of dollars to Democratic and Green candidates and causes. They didn't win. I worked phone banks and knocked on doors for days getting out the vote. We didn't win.
I am accountable for my part in this. I had more, and did not give it. I sat complacently in my comfort zone, giving only what I could afford. No more. If I am to change the results, I must change my approach.
I've set my course. As noted in an earlier comment, I am headed into the fray as a public servant. First things first:
- I'll need proper training. The law school application process is underway, the LSAT is completed, and the letters of recommendation are in the mail. My wife supports me in my decision to abandon my 14-year professional career as a project manager in electronic entertainment and go into the unglamorous, laborious, and poverty-stricken world of the public servant. I couldn't do this nearly as well without her.
- The 14th Assemby District committee meeting is two weeks away, where we will choose who will represent us in the Democratic Party structure. I'm out of town that weekend, but I booked a special round-trip ticket back just to attend that meeting. And I'll be at all the Meetups going forward. It's about commitment.
- If I'm going to be taken seriously, I must display the physical image that the majority of the electorate associate with the values I mean to exemplify: professionalism, organization, competence, success, trustworthiness, and accountability. It is a simple fact that people use visual shortcuts to quickly assess a man. So the hair must go.
My charge to you, reader, is this: go do something to help
today. Get out there. Write a letter to an official or a media outlet. Give some money to one of the worthy causes here on dKos. Engage a friend, a co-worker, a family member, or a stranger in conversation and shift his or her thinking. Let no day go by without something done to make a difference. Little things count! Just do something.
Posting here or in other left-leaning political discussion forums doesn't count. I'm charging each of us with taking action in addition to sharing ideas and building strategies.
It helps to talk and to think; it helps more to do.
Me, I got a haricut to get to. Then I'm going to follow up on my letter to Barbara Boxer and work on my personal statement for the law school application.
