West County Democrats

“What do I do now?”

“ I don’t know what to do but I feel like I need to do something.”

“I am going underground and off grid.”

After the election night debacle (for we Progressives), I heard comments like these from friends and family (who are Progressives and Democrats).   I even overheard similar comments whispered by people standing in line at the coffee shop.  I was like most of them too.  I was dazed, confused, shell-shocked and worried.  I did not sleep well the night of November 8^th.

I almost immediately understood and accepted that, hence forth, nothing would be the same and that I needed to positively effect the changes I perceived coming.  The big hurdle for me was “just doing it.”  Coming out of my shell, lowering my fears of the unknown, and blindly accepting the idea that I could have an influence:  Maybe not a big one, like snapping my fingers to make it all just go away, but certainly something, some one small thing.  I gained renewed hope in the Butterfly Effect – small acts over time make large differences.

So I talked to friends and family, sought the advice of the politically savvy, of spiritual leaders, remembered some of what I had learned about coping with change and loss and came up with this brief list of actions – of “doings,” instead of just thinking, talking, and wringing my hands.  I don’t, myself, do or recommend doing all of them.  It’d become too much like a job of “have-to-do” tasks.   Just, for me, the ones that “fit “ comfortably make me more effective – the stroke of the butterfly wing firmer.

Read these over and see if any resonate with you in your heart.

1. Seek solace in the company of others. Find your nearest Democratic Township Committee and attend a meeting, get on its e-mail list, meet other like-minded souls. You don’t have to run the program, but as experience has shown and Woody Allen has observed:  90% of success is just showing up.

2. Locate larger regional groups like Gateway Democrats, St. Louis County Democratic Committee, West County Democrats, Bonhomme Democratic Club. Join, link-up, tune in to what is going on.   Read web sites, attend meetings, learn; strive to expand your awareness.

3. Join your Missouri Democratic Party. It is a way to keep informed of what is going on state-wide and, in time, a way to influence how it operates.  The nominating process for the Democratic Party needs some attention, as we all learned last summer.

4. Take an interested friend who has not previously joined one of the above groups with you to a meeting. Then go out for coffee or sushi afterwards and talk about your shared experience.  Pay that forward by both of you doing it again but both with someone else.

5. Volunteer in your community. This one is important. This will help you get to know what is going on around you, what concerns your neighbors, what issues may need addressing.  Somehow, find a way to “work-in-the-service-of others.”  It can be curative, regenerative and affirming.  (I have found it way better than anti-depressants and almost as good as wine.) Places to volunteer include churches, food banks, schools and literacy programs, existing social service organizations and agencies, libraries, hospitals, nursing homes, scouting, athletic organizations.  Just ask. What organization doesn’t need free help these days? Volunteer at a place you’d like to be for a period of time doing something you’d like to do.  Remember, you are in charge of you.  Know your limits of effectiveness and stick to them.  Volunteering is not a job.  You can say “NO” to the boss without getting fired.

6. Listen and communicate civilly and regularly with ALL of your local, state and federal representatives regardless of party affiliation on issues important to you. Write letters, send emails, make phone calls.  Be polite and respectful, but make sure they know your opinion and that you are out there.

7. Keep abreast of, but limit to the level of your tolerance, socially progressive news feeds: MSNBC, The Nation, Politico, Daily Kos, Our Revolution and WCD.  There are dozens of others across the spectrum.  If you can – and perhaps this will come later – read or listen to what the conservatives are saying.  Not all of their ideas are tainted and you can also keep up with where the Alt-Right and Tea Partiers are lurking.

8. Take a break. My personal practice is that I devote an hour to ninety minutes a couple days a week to these types of activities.  I don’t view this as a full time job, but it gives me the satisfaction that I am doing something.  It may only be measureable to me, but any alternative I cannot live well with.   Butterfly Effect is real.

These days fear and anger rule.  These twin hob-gobblins of human emotion are easy to conjure and difficult to tame. Righteous indignation, vitriol, rage, judgment, incivility, disrespect, and everything that arises from hatred, ignorance, and meanness, in the end, hurts more the source from which it emanates — me first and foremost and you, if we let it.  I cannot let it.  I strive to not let it and these are ways I have found useful in that mission.  I am counting on the Butterfly Effect.

Submitted by Mark Kumming