Where to From Here?
I received the following email from my friend, Greg, who traveled to Nevada to help with GOTV and poll-watching efforts. It is helping me through these tough post-election days. I hope it helps you, too.
Hi Everyone-
9 a.m. I'm still in Reno, returning to SF today. The experience of being here was fantastic -- not the overall outcome we hoped for and thought might barely be possible, but I'm very glad I'm here. The Nevada outcome apparently remains too close to call, and people here do feel like something worked very well in this state. In fact, some of the most conservative districts in the state actually went for Democrats and even progressive candidates and initiatives because of the concentration of effort by the various Get Out The Vote organizations.
The long drive back to San Francisco today will give me a chance to have a little talk to myself about what happens next, what needs to happen next -- a sort of miniature version of what Greg and I experienced when we ended up driving from Washington, D.C., to California in September, 2001. I know I've said for years and years now that things apparently have to get worse before we collectively look at ourselves in the mirror and demand something better -- in the deepest sense of the word, I know that yesterday truly was progress -- but we never seem to quite bottom out. I simply don't know what to think about how much pain the country needs to feel before sufficiently large numbers are able to acknowledge, confront, and move beyond the pain and fear that's defining our national identity these days.
I'm not sure I know where to begin in order to come to terms with this nation that is my home. However, I have decided on one commitment that I will make to myself. I think I'm writing to all of you mostly to make my commitment public and ask for your support in helping me to keep the commitment; and perhaps if you find yourselves inclined in any way to make a similar commitment to yourselves, then we can work together to understand what the commitment means. I don't know how to relate to the many people who seem to see the world so differently from how I see it, but I know that I do want to relate to them. And I know that I will come closer to being my best self if I focus more on my wanting to relate and to love, less on the confusion and anger and fear and resignation and despair and so on that are being triggered within me. All of these not-so-pleasant emotions are within me, and I need to find some way to honor them; but the other side is present, too, and the other side is what sustains me.
So, I have decided that the one thing I must do now is to consciously do all I can to keep my heart open in the comings days, weeks, months, and years, during this time when my heart is tempted to become more closed. This is what I am committing to do. I want to do what I can to keep my heart as open as
possible, open it further, meet others with whatever openness I can attain, regardless of whether I encounter hearts that are more open or more clenched, and do my best to make room for this openness to be my primary guide in all that I do. This is what I feel I have to do to survive right now, but I'm
feeling that this path can help me to do more than merely survive. I'm not happy today, but I obviously still believe that in opening my own heart I support others in opening theirs, and on some level I'll always believe that there is nothing more important than this. Now I just need to figure out how to do what I need to do.
Anyway, thanks for listening, and thanks for your support. I feel especially grateful today to have all of you in my life.
Love,
Greg
