Grab an oar and start rowing
I recently had a conversation with the leadership team at the startup I work at about what it means to be in a small company — a place where you don’t just have the opportunity to make a difference but where the only difference that can be made is if you take the opportunity. In fact it requires it. And the same is true of our country, except that the importance of participation is even more accentuated by the fact that if you don’t help steer and move the ship, there’s a minority of folks that are happy to do it for you. In fact, they are counting on it.
In a company, if everyone stops rowing the boat stops moving. If you are a citizen of these United States, I urge you, grab an oar and start rowing. We need you. We need everyone. It’s been too long that most everyone in this country has treated it like a cruise ship — board, eat, sit at the pool and check the itinerary while imbibing enough alcohol to make the drink package worthwhile. We ranted and cheered for Obama and then complained when we didn’t like the outcome. And the same is true for the last 3 years as well.
Now I’m not talking about just the liberals here — I’m talking about anyone with an opinion. Whether you were for Obama or not, whether you love or hate Trump, there’s only one way to see a truly successful future for this country and it has nothing to do with leaders. It comes from the bottom when everyone grabs an oar and starts rowing — get involved, vote in local elections, learn about the parties and what they stand for, maybe even run for office. We may not row in the same direction but in the end we’ll end up where we as a country want to be. And although in the beginning we may find ourselves all rowing in opposite directions, we will find common ground and realize we’re all in the same… I’ll spare you the pun.
Marches, rallies and protests are great and are part of what this country is founded on — our freedom of speech and freedom to assemble. But this is a full time gig that we need to continue when we return to our lives, when we are driving our kids to practice, commuting to work or sitting at home reading twitter and Facebook. There’s nothing that makes an electorate more complacent than just listening to the news — let’s start shaping it. Together.
So whether you are left, right, queer, catholic, all of the above, old or young, black, brown, white, disabled, gay, straight or trans, whether you are rich or poor or like most of somewhere in the middle, whether you value love or money or choice or family or a million others ideals, whether you are privileged or feel the world that IS stacked against you, whether you’re a man or a woman or something in between or not even, free or imprisoned, living in the city, suburbs, on a farm or in the woods, or in a house on a country road; whoever you are: grab an oar and start rowing and, for the first time in a long time, let’s see where we can take this country when we all row together, and keep rowing. And if you’re not rowing, you’re basically just handing the reigns to whoever wants them so feel free to stop complaining.
I believe in this country and this planet. What happens here in any given year is short of a miracle and we have ourselves to thank. Whether it’s a poem or cars that drive themselves, it’s ours. We did it. Drive across this country and take a moment to recognize that the who-knows-how-many miles of roads were all built by men and women just like you and me. None of its magic. It’s all magic. Yes. It’s magic.
I believe in you. I believe in us.
