by Dean Briggs
Many of us are so lucky. We are economically comfortable, physically healthy, and engaged with family, friends, and fellow volunteers. So this election, as for many volunteers, was never about us.
It was instead about people in America and the world who don’t enjoy those advantages. It was about children who are immunocompromised and rely on a community around them that has been immunized. If there ever was a child that needed a village to raise them, they are it.
It was for Black Americans, who are entitled to be able to vote and to have their ballots accepted fairly.
It was for people who immigrated to this country escaping starvation or brutality. We can’t take them all but we can take many—our economic prosperity, at the least, requires it—and the rest need to be treated humanely and with dignity.
It was for people who are diligent civil servants, tirelessly forecasting hurricanes so we can evacuate, or inspecting our meat so we’re not being poisoned, testing water so our children don’t suffer intellectual disabilities from lead.
And with deep sadness, it was for the people of Ukraine who relied on us as their best hope to retain their freedom from foreign dictatorship.
And profoundly, it was for women being able to control their own bodies.
Our organization heads and the thought leaders of our movements will talk about what they think and what we should do next. But for some of us, we first need to win a struggle inside ourselves – will we go forward or will we declare defeat and move to the sidelines?
For me, I think about those people—children, grandchildren, neighbors, people across the country and world—who still need my efforts. They haven’t gone away, and their needs will become more acute. I’m going to take stock, make strategic decisions about where best to put my energies, and in my small way, take the struggle forward. I hope that you will, too.
Dean Briggs is an editor for IndivisBlog and Indivisible Mass Coalition’s Communication Team.
