I wake up in dread of going door-to-door. First, I go outside and walk to the cappuccino shop. On the way home I listen to birds and beam with the freedom to openly discuss politics today with strangers. Maybe educate about what a county commissioner actually does. Probably most don’t know. I didn’t.
As we prepared to head out to knock doors a volunteer asked what if they ask us about the war in Iran. We didn’t have a quick answer.
She had pink crocs and blue hair and her t-shirt said, Fun Fact: I don’t care. We passed each other in the dairy section of the grocery store after I did a canvass for Heather Buch. I’d just been talking to Heather at the park where we all met before going out to knock on doors. It was the second time I’d met her. The first time I blurted out she had pretty eyes, which she does, and she seemed pleased with this random compliment that had nothing to do with politics.
So I canvassed for her today because she’s a real person doing real work for real people.
It’s never easy for me, I get nervous knocking on people’s doors. Most do not answer. Older people are often happy I stop by and thank me, tell me they appreciate it. The ones on the younger side tend to like it less. One man said it’s too early for this, it was 11:30. Maybe that is too early?
Another man came out to talk to me in his sapphire blue bath robe in the sun. We discussed his cool swale in the front yard.
A kid on a bike asked who ya lookin for? I struggled to hold my list, the flyers while tracking addresses in a neighborhood I’ve never been.
No one I spoke to knew who this candidate was, who is currently in office in their district.
It was a beautiful warm spring day.
Toward the end I got into a maze of non-chronological apartment numbers. I found a few but decided to call it. I was done.
I bought a Häagen-Dazs ice cream bar at the store afterward. That’s where I saw the woman in the t-shirt who didn’t care.
War
Neither of us brought it up.
I don’t know the etiquette of when your country is bombing their country.
I don’t even really know the treatment protocol.
I asked, how can I help today?
She told me about her father’s almond orchard- about 20 trees. But it had a bug problem. He had to plant other trees.
When people in Iran retire they buy orchards. He has three.
She said, it’s getting beautiful outside here.
Yes, I agree with her, it is getting beautiful.
The vehicle to make change is not streamlined. It is not a bullet train. It is not a trolley that dings, riding rails leading to one solution. It is taking form in my head but I can’t see it yet, completely.
There may be many versions, like one is a wheelbarrow with a broom and shower curtain and tomato cage with a hood ornament + rags tying things together and peanuts to snack on, arranged going up with only that one wheel to roll on.
This is what collaboration feels like with a diverse team. It’s creative if not always comfortable.
Why do we kill people who are killing people
To show that killing people is wrong
What a foolish notion
That war is called devotion
When the greatest warriors are the ones that stand for peace
Foolish Notion, Holly Near
