More Than I Thought I Could Be

Though I once worked as a journalist, I'm shy. I don't like talking to people most of the time. As a writer, I'm comfortable writing, taking my pen to paper, expressing myself that way.

But this election, I talked to people. I registered voters. I made phone calls, and, then, in the end, I knocked on doors.



It wasn't easy for me. But I found myself driving gravel and dirt roads alone. Passing cows and sheep and farms and getting lost and encountering dogs off leash.

But I wasn't afraid of dogs. I like dogs. And I believed in Hillary Clinton. I still do.

This election challenged me, to be more than I ever thought I could be and to do more than I ever thought I could do.

At first, I was horrible at phone banking. I couldn't get anyone scheduled for a shift. But I kept at it, and I got better. Because I have never believed anything so strongly in my life as I believed that Hillary Clinton should be president, that she would make the best president I had ever seen.

If you don't believe that, put aside all you think you know about Hillary Clinton, which likely includes many exaggerations and lies. And then go watch Hillary Clinton talk about the importance of women's rights.

After watching this, can you really still tell me that she's "establishment"? That she isn't authentic?

Now I find myself in a place that I didn't want to be. I thought, after the election, we could relax because Hillary Clinton is smart and strong and she knows what she's doing.

Instead, we find ourselves with Donald Trump, a man whose qualifications for president include never having held public office and hosting The Apprentice. A man that every major newspaper--except of course the newspaper of the racist KKK--agreed was not fit to be president.

But some Americans thought they knew better. Who are they to listen to experts on issues like climate change or vaccines? I know that they didn't, that the anti-establishment longing that some people apparently felt would not be solved by electing (or not really electing) a man yelling and screaming instead of offering serious solutions to our nation's problems.

I don't want to keep going. But now we must. What stands between our nation and fascism but us? So, now, I will be continuing to make phone calls, to my senator and my congressman and whoever I need to call to make sure that "women's rights are human rights, once and for all" and that the rights of all people are similarly honored. If I ask myself, what would Hillary do, I don't have to wonder. I know. When Obama was chosen over Hillary Clinton in 2008, she didn't give up on politics. She didn't quit. She served honorably as Secretary of State, helping to repair our nation's tarnished reputation abroad following the Bush years.

In the words of JFK, I now have to ask myself, as I'm sure Hillary Clinton has many times, not what my country can do for me, but what I can do for my country.

Hillary Clinton, you answered the call to service, and you served honorably. Now, so will I. I don't know what this will mean or where this will lead me. But I know that I must stand up and fight to make sure that all the progress that you fought for is not erased.

In your honor and following in your footsteps, I will do what I can for my country.