“AHOD”—All Hands on Deck. Essentially this means “an emergency situation in which everybody is needed to achieve a goal.” I know I’m preaching to the choir here but there are A LOT of people who are in the choir but aren’t singing—and they’re in a panic about the current chaos.
For example, after the SCOTUS immunity finding, my sister said that she and her husband were really upset. My suggestion to her: “Don't just sit there wringing your hands. DO SOMETHING, ANYTHING!!!”
I reminded her that our country has been through crises before. We fought a Civil War for Pete’s sake! And the nation survived. But that didn’t happen magically. And it won’t happen magically now.
I suggested to her that no one person; no one political party, institution, corporation, or well-meaning non-profit—and not even extraterrestrials who may be hovering in spaceships above us—will fix this. It’s up to “We the people.”
I told her that my introvert nature rules out making GOTV phone calls. And
my bum knee precludes my going door to door or standing somewhere to register voters. Likewise, I can’t volunteer to process ballots—I researched in my town and found it requires standing for several hours. My sister was horrified about doing ballot counting—“That can be dangerous to do nowadays!” And I responded “Yes, and I would do it if I could because this situation warrants it.”
So I urge you to enlist your family and friends to “DO SOMETHING! ANYTHING!” And give them the BWPM link. Maybe tell them some of what I said above. And remind them that it’s up to “We the people” to save our democracy.
Take the risk of stepping up on a soapbox. It can be a bit uncomfortable up there but, as they say, “desperate times call for desperate measures.”