I dislike how often things in the last nine years have been so political, and while the trend has been there probably since at least the 2000 election things do seem to be getting more intense, maybe in the last two or three election cycles. It’s annoying. EVERYthing has to tie back to red vs. blue, right vs. left, Trump vs. literally everyone else. Regardless of how you feel about specific people or parties or issues or whatever, can we all agree that it feels as though there’s been more media presence on all things political? Even if it’s since Obama’s second term or whatever, not just the present administration.
Here’s what I care about. I want to contribute to the world, because I just can’t rely on the government to do it for me. I intend to make the best impact, and the biggest difference, to as many people as I can, and to make it easier for those who come after me.
I started writing this post on Sunday, January 28. On the 29th, I found this:
I guess I really am a Millennial, and I guess I’m a little disappointed in the fact that I’m not alone in feeling like the world is falling apart but we aren’t. The fact that the majority of my generation distrusts both political parties (rather, neither major party has a majority of trust) isn’t really bad in my mind, especially since the poll suggests that we are far more focused on issues and believe in our local involvement more than our political involvement. But I keep going back to “Waiting on the World to Change” and how that was supposed to be some kind of generational rallying song. The Republicans were in office and we young people, the rising stars of the next generation, were just waiting for the moment when we’d take over and finally have a chance to cure America’s political system of its ills. In 2008, I think we maybe thought it was happening. A black president! A leader that the rest of the world loves as much as we do! (But back then I only had a vague idea of how much “we” was actually “me”, and not much idea of how different the rest of “us” could be.)
And here we are. Things in Washington feel very much the same, and I should know; I live here. On the plus side, life goes on like normal. My friends and I are finding new restaurants, enjoying the museums, and learning to live with the vague improvement that is the new Metro system. On the downside, there’s all this crap about the gigantic machine that can’t move, partly because it’s too large to do so, and partly because it doesn’t want to, and it’s all just down the street.
But I’m so happy at the idea that I’m not alone in my desire to make changes directly, in the idea that my specific actions can directly make a difference. And it’s a belief. I don’t think we’ve really proven to ourselves or anyone else that we are making a difference more in the community than in the national political arena. But I won’t be alone in trying, or in finding out.