"I know you care and are concerned,"
It
had been months into the pandemic, which meant, among many other
things, that I hadn't seen my singing teacher for, well, months ... and
then I got an email from him. With some reflection, I figured he was
just buttering me up; but in real time I felt flattered. His opening
sentence read, "In-part inspired by you, and especially your periodic
petitions, Jane and I are getting political."
"Inspired by me ... " I thought. "I wonder what I've done." And then, "Political? What ... ?"
The
most political thing he and I had ever done was share a mutual distaste
for the current state of our politics, especially at the National
Level, particularly at what was happening in the Trump White House. His
very next sentence got to the heart of the matter. "I’m writing to ask if you’d like to join an effort to flip theMinnesota Senate in the election this November."
Our
state government is a bicameral government ... that is, like the US
government, it has two legislative chambers: a Senate and a House. At the time, both the governor and the House majority belonged to the
Democratic Party. The Senate majority was Republican, with a majority
leader that seems to behave much like Kentucky US Senate Republican
Mitch McConnell behaves ... obstructionist. I had long thought the Republican Party,
especially when configured like this, was the party of 'no.' And it's
not just that it had said 'no' so often; it seemed to me it generally
failed to even talk about important issues in what I thought was good
faith. Issues such as raising the minimum wage, paid family and medical
leave, gun proliferation and gun violence prevention, significant reform
of the policing function. These, it seemed to me, were non-starters for
Republicans. I was eager to change something about this, and changing
the party in power in the Senate seemed like a good course of action.
I was immediately interested.
Until I read the plan.
Volunteers
are signing up, and each volunteer urges others to join. When many
friends are on board, we'll participate in a Zoom training, learning to
make cold telephone calls, and we'll each be given scores of potential
swing voters to call.
I had been reaching for my checkbook when two phrases in the plan reached out and throttled me: cold telephone calls and voters to call. My armpits moistened; sweat beads rolled down my brow.
Although
most of my friends and my wife offer strong dissent about the premise, I
consider myself shy. I believe that I manage it well. And, though I
know I can talk to people, even strangers on the right occasion,
I enjoy talking politics to almost nobody and doing so with strangers,
on a cold telephone call, brews a perfect storm of discomfort ... blows
me way out of my comfort zone.
His
email continued, acknowledging that the prospect of cold-calling might
be daunting ( yuh ... you think? ), admitting that he dreads it, and
saying he takes some solace that, in combination with many others, his
effort just might make a difference, In closing, he threw me a bone: "I know you care and are concerned," whatever I decide about participating.
A
friend of mine once said, "If you want to know what God's will is for
you, answer your phone." I thought reading this email was very close to
doing that, and I was nearly disconsolate that I had done so. The email
invited me to jump outside my comfort zone, in support of a cause I
seriously believed in. As such, it demanded serious consideration, which
meant much thought and prayer. And, I thought, some time for me to come
to terms with the affirmative answer I knew, deep in my heart, I'd
give.
| If you would like to comment but don't care to use the comment field, send an email to wrjsojourner@gmail.com. |
