I Asked What I Can Do, and So I Did

I wore a safety pin Friday. I'd heard about it on social media following the election. The reports connected it to what happened in the wake of Brexit. I thought, hmmm, it seems trivial, but it's safe and it's a start. Maybe someone will see it and feel a connection, a support, or a relief that they aren't alone. As I predicted though, there were a few blogs criticizing the practice as ridiculous and embarrassing and toothless. The same criticism hits pink ribbons in October or yellow rubber bracelets for cancer fundraising. Funny, I don't recall a lot of criticism when everyone was wearing flag pins after 9/11, but I could be wrong. For now though, I'd rather wear it knowing that it is a gesture that I back up with other actions.

Well Harry, that's not quite what we had in mind, but...

I signed a petition pleading with the Electoral College not to vote for Trump even though many of them pledged their votes earlier this year. It's a thing apparently. An option they have. It's highly unlikely they'd ever do it, but it's out there and it offers a wee sliver of hope. Just maybe they'll be able to see past the fiction of Trump somehow restoring the labor jobs that are never coming back to the Midwest so that we aren't rewarding his vile rhetoric with the highest office in American government. While I hear where laborers are coming from and how disenfranchised they are and how the Democrats hung them out to dry, by raising up Trump or by not voting at all for president, they've harmed countless Americans by telling them they mean less. They are worthless. They don't matter. It sickens me. Putting my name on the petition means I stand against that thinking. While I know our economy needs a boost, I am not willing to sacrifice the protection and safety and hard-fought civil rights for immigrants, people of color, and LGBTQ Americans. A petition is a small gesture that costs me nothing except a bit of flack on social media for not understanding how the Electoral College works (I do) or my simple naivety (I know it's unlikely--give me some credit). I know it's a pittance, but I did it anyway because I need hope.

That's right, Moose. I know what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and how little chance it has. Doing it anyway.

I made a donation to Planned Parenthood in the name of Mike Pence. I find it entertaining that he'll get a thank you notification in the mail from PP. While it may just prove to him that private donations are how PP should be funded rather than through government spending, I hope he gets inundated with thanks notices to show him just how many people believe in PP's mission and it's need for continued funding. Given his anti-science views on things like climate change, evolution, and smoking risks, perhaps I'll make a few more donations in his name. I don't have a lot of disposable income or anything, but when I consider putting my money where my mouth is, I'd like it to get caught in Pence's throat.

...Mike Pence! 

I don't have a lot of money, but I will use it support agencies that will suffer due to your ignorance.

I also sought volunteer opportunities with local and state agencies that support equal rights like PP, Naral, and the Human Rights Network. I don't know what kind of opportunities they will tell me about or if I'll be able to volunteer as much as I'd like, but I'll know more than I did before about the activities in my community and state to make my voice heard or to make sure someone else's is raised up.
Show up.
Stand up.
Speak up.

Probably not, Homer. 

These things I can do. I might not be able to change the outcomes of elections, the minds of the white working class, or the persecutions that have already begun, but I can wear a safety pin. I can sign petitions and lobby elected officials. I can donate time and money to human rights organizations that protect minorities of all varieties. I can use my voice and my time and my money to try and do right by my fellow humans every day. I can stand with someone who endures public racism, bigotry, or misogyny. In the end, we all need to ask ourselves what we can do to for each other. After all, look where single-minded self-interest got us.

I'm trying little goat. I'm trying.