My Two Cents on the Future of the World

If you're averse to politically related blogs, I might suggest you turn away quickly, cause: that is wot dis 'ere blog is about to discuss.

I just got done watching Hillary Clinton give an A-M-A-Z-I-N-G speech at the Democratic National Convention, and it makes me not only really pumped to be a woman in 2008, it also makes me pretty pumped to be voting democratically for Barack Obama in this next election.

And before any of my Republican friends wrinkle their noses in distaste, let me just say: I am only a baby democrat. Before I wore blue, I wore red, and I was wearing red amongst a LOT of blue donkeys. I haven't been apart from the herd for long.

But my transition from a proud red Republican, to a shirking purple violet, to an emerging blue Demity-Dem-Dem-Democrat is not just due to the abysmal events that have unfolded under Bush's administration in the last four years-- although I'd be hip with the trend if it was. The transition is due primarily to a shift in my understanding about how change takes place.

It boils down to this:
Some changes and policies can, and should, be made on a federal scale.
Some can only occur during a heart-to-heart conversation.

Yes?

I'll unpack it.

Getting into some embarrassing confessions now: when I was in high-school, I was very passionate, and very religious, and very self-righteous. I did a group project centered on abortion, and dragged out every horrific image I could find to prove my point. For my Senior project, I originally planned on giving a lecture titled, "A Rebuttal to Atheism." It basically entailed me standing up and shaking my finger at everyone who didn't believe the exact same thing I did, and telling them that they were wrong.

Awesome.

I changed my senior project after a mission trip to Mexico. For the first time in my life, I was confronted with abject poverty. I started the trip furious with God-- He "was refusing to let me" go to my first choice private university after I didn't get any scholarships, and I was convinced that He was being totally unfair.

Then I saw people living in shacks made of corrugated metal and mattress box-springs. I was struck by the realization that the kids I was playing with were coming to see me in the same clothes every single day-- the same ragged t-shirts, the same dusty shorts. On one of my last days there, I gave a new friend-- a beautiful, tall 12-year-old girl named Diana-- a cheap plastic bracelet that I'd bought from Fred Meyer before leaving. I felt magnanimous and noble for giving her one of the many little trinkets I'd brought down to give away, but was deeply humbled by her reaction. She gasped, and hugged me, and then without hesitating, whipped off one of her own precious silver bangles she wore every day, and gave it to me in exchange. It changed me.

I flew back thinking about the blessing that was college, regardless of which one- the blessing that was a full closet. I flew back embarrassed that I would stand up and tell so many people that they were wrong, when I was so clearly flawed myself. I changed my project all around. It turned into a big clothing drive and fund raiser for the kids in Bahia del Kino, and my presentation consisted of simply telling my story: reading my journal from the week I was there. Talking about the people that I had hugged, and had talked with, and had been changed by.

John Mayer has a great song called, "Belief,"-- I'd encourage you to click on the link and read the whole thing, because it gets the gist of what I'm saying much more succinctly. It begins:

Is there anyone who ever remembers
changing their mind from the paint on a sign?
Is there anyone who really recalls
ever breaking rank at all
for something someone yelled real loud one time?

I don't think some decisions can be made by a far off government; some decisions can only be made from personal relationships and interactions. My decision to phase into a more liberal mindset came from thinking about what COULD be decided on a federal scale, and what issues were simply too personal for that. Issues like gay marriage for example, have become a non-issue for me, because what governmental decree is actually going to keep two people from falling in love with one another, when that's what they whole-heartedly want to do? If you're truly of the opinion that homosexuality is wrong, then maybe you should become friends with some people living that lifestyle, and show them sincere love, and prove yourself worthy of their trust and confidence, and eventually have a conversation with them about that choice as ONE aspect of their lives. Well, but that takes too long. Who needs to build trust when you can just wave signs or put aggressive bumper stickers on your car?

The issues that, to me, make sense to decide on a national scale are things like heath care, education, the environment, global relationships, the decision to go to war, and the economy. Those are all issues that I side with the Democrats on.

"Moral issues," though-- the issues that supposedly determined the 2004 election-- are no longer the issues determining my votes, because I don't think those issues can be resolved from Washington.

Abortion is still a tough one for me to get over, and I would guess that's the case for many politically confused Christians, like myself. After all, if you believe that it's murder, then that's a capital offense, isn't it? That's a FEDERAL issue. I still think abortion is one of the worst things I can think of-- I remember those images. But... and understand, this is still the hardest issue for me to waver on-- part of me feels that the only way to stop the termination of unwanted pregnancies is to have kind, empathetic women holding the hands of reluctant mothers in those clinics. People don't change their minds from being yelled at-- or if they do, it's usually out of fear which doesn't have much sticking power. People change their minds out of love. We even talk about this in grad school: you never wanted to work hard for the power-tripping teachers that you hated; you wanted to work hard for the teachers that you adored. You see this in relationships too, people make compromises when they love the person they're compromising for.

I'm tired of the Big guy stepping on the Little guy. I'm tired of the irresponsible entitlement coming out of Washington, and of the environment slipping down the toilet because the "right" people are benefiting from it, and of education not being funded, and I'm tired of hearing about soldiers dying in a grievously misrepresented war. But the soldier thing hit home more tonight than it has before, because one of the girls in my grad school program was crying about missing her husband who's fighting in it right now. People change people.

But.

That's just the slogan on my picket sign.