Voting can change the world

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My apologies to those of you who read this blog on Dreamwidth; I didn’t realize for some time that the plugin which crossposts from my site to DW had broken, so last month’s tikkun olam post didn’t appear there. But I haven’t given up on these: far from it, in fact.

Every month I invite you all to share news of what you’ve been doing to repair the world, to help other people and make yourself a better part of it. That’s true this month, too, but to the usual call I’ll add a specific recommendation:

Vote.

If you live in the United States and you’re registered to vote, please do so. Don’t dismiss it as an “off year,” as if the presidential election is the only one that matters. There are local offices to fill, local measures to approve or reject. Maybe you live in a state that always goes blue or red, so you feel like your vote doesn’t matter — well, the more local you get, the more effect you can have. Take just a few minutes to research what’s going on in your state, your city, your school district. Download the EveryElection app. Make your voice heard. The presidency is important, but it’s the keystone of an arch built from many different stones, and right now we can go to work on the foundations.

Of course, also keep working at the things that aren’t overtly political. Volunteer your time, donate money or goods, be there for a friend in need. No effort too small to be worth mentioning here. Share what you’ve been doing and what you hope to do, so we can all take heart from one another.

And if you can: vote.

2 Responses to “Voting can change the world”

  1. swantower

    My recent focus has been on writing emails to my senators and representative, company CEOs, etc. Instead of just sending in the form letter provided by the various campaigns I follow, I’m taking a few minutes to edit them. Personalized messages tend to have more impact than the 924th iteration of a form, and hey — I make my living with words, don’t I? I’m particularly pleased with the one I sent asking my senators to reject the nomination of the climate change denier Sam Clovis — I pointed out that the extinction of North American’s large animals at the end of the Pleistocene era is generally thought by archaeologists to have been caused by a combination of two factors, those being 1) climate change and 2) overhunting by the Clovis settlers. (I have no idea if that’s still the case, given the mounting piles of data challenging the “Clovis first” theory of how the New World was settled. But it’s what I was taught in my archaeology classes back in college, and I doubt anybody on Capitol Hill knows any better than I do.)

    We’re also about to install a safety feature on the gas valve for our house so that, in the event of an earthquake, it’s less likely to spark a fire. Which benefits us, obviously, but also our neighbors — fire tends not to stick to property lines, and the wine country devastation has put this very much on our minds.

  2. Mom

    Dad and I both chose angels from the Salvation Army Tree today. Dad chose an older man because nobody else does and I a toddler girl because I only have grandsons ☺️ I’ve also been visiting a friend who’s in assisted living and lost her husband last May.

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