Shall I Divulge? Oh, Sure, Why Not?

OK. I apologize in advance if this sounds like bragging... but...

The Director of the Washington State OFA organization, Dustin Lambro, called to ask me to be on an important conference call tonight hosted by Jeremy Bird, who reports to Mitch Stewart, who reports to President Obama. WOW!

Dustin asked if I'd be one of three volunteers across the country to report on last Saturday's event for the Vote 2010 Kickoff, because we had a very good turnout and numerous "best practices" to report.  So I did that.

It was kind of fun.  I guess I must have misplaced every last nerve I ever had. I no longer get stage fright when asked to do something of significance that's outside my comfort zone. I guess that's because it's such an important thing and I know, for sure, it ain't about ME, but about what I can share that will help others be more effective as volunteers, team leaders and community organizers. 

Tonight's call was less stressful, by far, than taking the stage in Seattle, Sacramento, Oakland, Denver, Baltimore and Vegas to talk about DeForest Kelley to 3K people OR present a STAR TREK stand-up comedy routine -- that's for sure!  It felt kinda nice, actually... 

A long, long, long time ago I was really, really into politics (the late 60's and early 70's, as a newly fledged voter), but after Watergate I bailed for a very long time... except for brief forays to campaign for McGovern-Shriver and to vote for Jimmy Carter and Dukakis-Ferraro. I didn't really want to be working for what seemed to be a bunch of lobbyist-purchased politicians. I considered it all pretty corrupt and unsavory for about 30 years, and checked out. 

But in my heart of hearts, I really did want to care again -- I just didn't consider politicians people to care about!  Now that I do have an Administration in office that I really do care about, my enthusiasm is back.  It feels good, if a little scary (because I remember what happened to all the politicians I cared about in the 60's -- bang, bang, bang). But I figure, hey... if these people are willing to go out there and run, and lead, and risk their lives, who am I to sit on the sidelines when I admire them so and agree with their policies?  I mean, it would be lame to do that.

So I'm in, with both feet.  I pray every day that the tension and turmoil and demonizing that is tearing the country apart will fade and that we'll all agree to disagree agreebly where we do disagree politically... That would be fantatsic. 

I would love to discuss the issues without running into the spin/smear machine. It would make life less stressful in a number of ways.  I don't like being tense... at all.  I'm the peaceable type.