CSM: My wife made me canvas for Obama

[MeDeMax]

"My wife made me canvas for Obama; here's what I learned"

By Jonathan Curley, from the November 3, 2008 edition

...
Let me make it clear: I'm pretty conservative. I grew up in the suburbs. I voted for George H.W. Bush twice, and his son once. I was disappointed when Bill Clinton won, and disappointed he couldn't run again.
...
I am the dreaded swing voter.
...
Instead of walking the tree-lined streets near our home, my wife and I were instructed to canvass a housing project. A middle-aged white couple with clipboards could not look more out of place in this predominantly black neighborhood.
We knocked on doors and voices from behind carefully locked doors shouted, "Who is it?"
"We're from the Obama campaign," we'd answer. And just like that doors opened and folks with wide smiles came out on the porch to talk.
...
We knocked on every door we could find and checked off every name on our list. We did our job, but Obama may not have been the one who got the most out of the day's work.
...
My wife and I went out last weekend to knock on more doors. But this time, not because it was her idea. I don't know what it's going to do for the Obama campaign, but it's doing a lot for me.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1103/p09s02-coop.html


Warms your heart doesn't it, that this campaign is uniting us across all divisions, no matter how hard some tried to divide us for the last few years.

[DerekJ]

1. Thanks. Heart warming indeed.

[Kukesa]

2. Nice post, max. Thanks. n/t

[Hope And Change]

3. Great story.Thanks for posting.K & R!

[Sydnie]

4. Isn't it amazing?

People tend to fear the unknown whether that be people they don't know or experiences they don't know. Once you go out and cross that line of your own comfort zone, outside of those you would normally interact with, you begin to see that people are all just people. They all want the same thing. They all want to be comfortable in their lives. Most don't need to live fancy lives, just need to be comfortable enough to make life enjoyable. They want their kids to do well, their neighborhoods to be safe and to have enough self respect to hold their heads up everyday as they go through the things that they must to try to be comfortable.

I am always amazed when people discover that about themselves. You can never go back to the way you thought before, and you never want to either.

[MeDeMax]

5. yes indeed

I can think of dozens of examples of things I could have tried but avoided because it was "unknown".

I have almost always had +ve results from crossing the unknown boundary.

[npincus]

6. thanks, I enjoyed that.

:)

[Cha]

7. This is so verklempt!

What a sweet story..thank you, MeDeMax~

[Dem2theMax]

8. Oh, thank you for posting that story! Beautiful. Brought tears to my eyes.

I've been doing that a lot lately, crying. Tears of hope keep springing forth from my eyes.

From the article:

"I've learned that this election is about the heart of America. It's about the young people who are losing hope and the old people who have been forgotten. It's about those who have worked all their lives and never fully realized the promise of America, but see that promise for their grandchildren in Barack Obama. The poor see a chance, when they often have few. I saw hope in the eyes and faces in those doorways."

:kick:

[crispini]

9. DU needs to stop making me cry!

Dang!

[yellerpup]

10. Sweet and true.

I was in the grocery store today picking up sweet potatoes to make my celebration pie for Election Day and also to buy basics for a food drive (coffee, salt, beans, rice, canned soups, pasta, canned milk, canned corned beef, tuna, jello, juice, oatmeal... lots of things on the list. So, when I make it to the sweet potato display there was an AA woman about my age checking out the sweet potatoes. I stepped up beside her and picked up a couple and I said, "You making a sweet potato pie to celebrate the election on Tuesday? I am." She started giggling, then I started giggling, then we bumped shoulders and parted ways. Couple of geezer babes anticipating sweet success and laughing out loud in public because we both KNOW we are going to pull this off. It's a great time to be a Democrat! :dem: :dem: :dem:

[casus belli]

11. K&R