The Introverted Activist

 I don't know how I ever worked up the nerve to go door to door in 2004 asking people who they were going to vote for back then.  It was thrilling, frustrating and kind of scary at times.  I couldn't do it today.  After that election, I was heartbroken.  When you meet people and hear their stories and how they're affected by the changes that an administration has made, you feel for them.  I thought I can't do this again.

I wanted to especially when Obama ran.  I wanted to be part of the movement but people were so hostile four years earlier, I couldn't bring myself to ask people if they were voting for the first black candidate running for President.

Then Trump happened.  I felt helpless like a lot of America. I voted.  I donated what little money I had for Hillary.  I just hated sitting there and watching what was happening from someone so cruel and mean.  I didn't agree with George W. Bush's policies, but he was not a hateful person.  He wanted to unite people and he did after 9/11.  He definitely wasn't a pig like Trump.

I found Vote Forward before the 2018 elections.  I came across it from an email from Daily Kos and signed up.  It was writing letters to encourage people to vote in the mid-terms.  It was perfect for someone like me.  I believe it was around the time that the Tree of Life shooting had happened and I was upset watching what happened with that.  I thought it's not the same as calling people or going door to door but I can sit down and figure out how to write a non partisan message to encourage people why it's important to vote in every election.  At the time, I wrote to people in Sharice Davids and Lucy McBath's district in Kansas and Georgia.  Both ladies won their districts.  No, my letter writing didn't make the election.  It made me believe that I could help.

I have for the last 6 years.  I found other organizations that encouraged postcard writing like Activate America and Grassroots Democrats.  Vote Riders gives people information on the ID laws.  There's a world of ways that you can participate with writing a letter on a postcard and mailing it.  It's something that can make a difference.  Last year, I bought a batch of postcards from Blue Wave Postcards that had a campaign to tell people to vote No on an amendment in Ohio in August.  It was really confusing, I didn't quite understand it myself, but I thought educating people is a key.  There was a big turnout for that August election in Ohio.  It was about giving power that they could strike down something like abortion rights.

There's a lot of confusion with voting and that's what I like about these programs.  It'll have you write messages on how people can vote by mail or what ID they need.  Confusion is what some lawmakers want so they can push their ideas through and nobody sees what's coming.

I am getting a packet of stamps from Vote Forward because of some glitch in their system.  It means a lot and it meant to me when Corinne mailed me some stamps for my birthday.  It makes me feel productive when I write these letters or postcards every night.  I know. I feel like I should be sitting with other people writing them.  There's part of me that wishes there was a group I could join for all of us introverts to sit there and write our cards and letters quietly.  

I am worried about this election. It's no longer become about a party.  It's about how we are as people.  Decency and humanity matter.  I'll show up for that.