What am I doing? Politics? Again??

 

I worked all day at the high school and came home to make sure that all the patrons of my buying club are able to get and pay for their groceries. After a chat with the treasurer, my family and I head to the barn to feed the calf, sheep, hens, and rabbits. I check on one rabbit, Jewell, extra close. She’s due any day now. We get done and come in. I fix supper. After supper, we slice up vanilla beans and put them to soak. In six months, we’ll have homemade vanilla extract.  My daughter finishes baking some chocolate chip cookies and I get started on the banana bread for my Emerge sisters at Sunday morning’s training. I’m thinking about the weekend training, the barn that needs cleaned up, windows that need sealed, and sheep that have to …well, go bye bye. At this point, I’m asking myself, “What the heck am I doing?”

 

Global climate change, unemployment, discrimination not just about race, sexual orientation, and religion, but the hits we are taking as women. What will my daughter face in the years ahead? How will she afford college? How can she not? At the turn of the century, I got involved in politics, human rights to be precise. That time of my life was exhausting yet so rewarding! Then I switched gears to work in sustainability, community development, and food systems. Why? Because of my daughter. I want her, her generation, and future generations to have a good life. I can help! I can help form and implement policy that will get people back to work, create sustainable agriculture, feed everyone a good, healthy diet, and make plans for what we have done to our climate. The question is not “What am I doing?” but, “How can I not take this opportunity to help make changes?”