girlonahalfshill

Dear Friends, dear Americans, dear Fellow Citizens,

I tried reaching out to you recently and I may have reached a few of you, but it’s hard to make it through the noise. There’s such a swirl of noise out there and that noise is just about to get so much louder and worse.

I want to start by talking to those who have tuned out though – because it is necessary for all of us to do that sometimes, right? I get it. I do. Take a minute, take a day, take a week even. There’s a lot to try to cope with these days and I’m right there with you… almost.

For those who say that you’re just not political, that you hate politics, I want to remind you that politics happens with or without you. We can’t reshape it into something less alienating, more civil, more relevant without you and people like you. Politics isn’t just people in offices and century old buildings with columns making speeches. It determines whether we have the resources to fight fires and repair after tropical storms, whether some are given legally recognized marriages or not, whether jeopardized species go extinct, whether we pursue peace or war. Your right to download an app or mail a birthday card to your friend, the cost of vegetables at the supermarket – these are all in their own way political acts. Our standing in the world and as individuals depends on the functioning of our democracy.

Please, do not wait for the moment when one of these laws deprives you personally of something vital to recognize your power.

For those of you who say that it won’t make a difference, this isn’t a butterfly effect kind of thing. Whether you live in a swing state or not, this election is shaping up to be close. Votes will matter – across the country. In the local elections, state and nationally. If you spend two hours reading your election booklet, I bet that there’s one ballot measure or proposition or candidate that you’ll connect with, that will matter to you. Find the issue where you can really make a difference and then while you’re marking your ballot, please fill in a vote for president too.

Please. Every district matters this time. Every state.

For those who feel you don’t know enough, there is still time. I know that you’re busy, maybe you’ve got little kids. Read about the candidates with them. Sure, maybe they’ll think it’s boring, but it might help them take a nap and then you can finish reading. Or maybe you’re busy with work, but it’s worth burning some midnight oil to get this right. Check your sources. A lot of these candidates are depending on us to stay disengaged or they’re betting on us being dumber than we are. I don’t think we’re dumb.

Please, find the time because this is about us and our kids and our neighbors and their kids and the people hundreds of miles away and their kids.

We are so lucky and I know a lot of us are tired of this word “privilege.” It feels like a weight around our necks that we didn’t ask for and don’t have time for, but it is ours and ours alone. This vote doesn’t belong to people living in the European Union or Iran or Israel or South Korea. It doesn’t belong to the nearly 35 million lawful permanent residents who have come from all over the world to work in our businesses, pay our taxes and abide by our laws, who may live here for years without ever being able to vote. It doesn’t belong to the billions of people around the world who are affected by our military decisions, environmental decisions, diplomatic choices, and who, when we’re at our best, look up to us and the stable democracy that we have perhaps resided in for so long that we have forgotten how fragile governments can be.

And no, no one asked you whether you wanted to be born here and the condition of our individual lives spans the spectrum. I know that there are so many of us who would be hard pressed to feel fortunate at the moment. And others of us who are sick of being called it in an era when our lives are unfamiliar and disrupted and we can’t operate under the weight of it all.

… but we can, and we do. Think about it. We can and we do. It’s almost frightening to think about, but we’re all survivors of something and our bodies and minds persevere even when it feels like our hearts may give out – and they can carry our hearts along with them.

Please vote. I am trying to do what I feel suited to – reaching out to those who feel tired and done and disengaged. Admitting that I myself feel tired and done, but that I cannot allow myself to be disengaged. I don’t want to add to the text messages that you’re getting on your phone or the email in your inbox. I don’t want to be one more person raining ultimatums down on you. I want to encourage you. Please ask questions. Please, don’t be intimidated. Please, don’t wait. Please – VOTE.