The Blog: Laments From La Mancha

I’m not your politics guy. I haven’t spent hours combing over records, figures, or policies.

I’m not your one issue guy. Abortion. Gay Marriage. Iraq. Gender. Race.

I’m your idealism guy.

I live in jaded naiveté. I’m quasi-inspired*. I’m a realistic dreamer. I’m a republican for Barack Obama.

For those of you who know me, you know that I’m inspired by Don Quixote; that my motto for living is taken from the very words of Man of La Mancha:

When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. To seek treasure where there is only trash. Too much sanity may be madness. And maddest of all, to see life as it is and not as it should be.

I’m weary of the world as it is. I want it to be a better place. I want those around me to be better people. I am told time and time again in the business world that you can’t live that way. It’s not part of your job, the system doesn’t work that way. People are cogs; it’s about producing x number of widgets. That’s someone else’s job. It’s not about understanding someone else, it’s about making sure that you are understood.

I refuse to live that way. I give my own money. I give my own time. I get my hands dirty. I give the honor and credit away to others. I do all of these things because I believe that they are the right things to do. I do them because I hope I can change the world around me.

Politics have never interested me. They grate my nerves; they churn my stomach. I hate the fighting. I hate the hating. I show up every 4 years, click the “R” lever and move on. Primaries? What are those? Yet this year I find myself watching CNN, checking polls, and fascinated by the whole process. No one did a thing for me until after loosing (and that’s really what I find the most interesting, that in speech where he was the looser, he inspired the most) the New Hampshire Primary, Barack Obama gave this speech.

I was in tears, because these very words spoke to the core of how I live my life. Apparently I wasn’t the only one.

There is a whole list of things that I disagree with Obama about. But I believe. I hope. I think that I’ve found someone who’s willing to listen to ideas from all sides. Someone who believes that if you want to make a difference, you have to change the people. That we are the ones, who can make that change if we so desire.

* Quasi-Inspired: Stirred, but not enough to get off the couch and do something (A shout out to Steph and Andrea)

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