The giggling girls playing in the surf below was making great background music for my meal. I was sitting on the deck of a cottage on a bluff overlooking Lake Erie enjoying some R&R. The food and wine was great equaled only by the comradeship of the old friends I was sharing the meal with. My boys were playing in the grass below. Laughing, talking, it was the great end to a great day. Someone mentioned the girls below. What, you may ask, does two young girls playing in a lake have to do with politics? It further reinforced my belief that we are all in this together, that this idea goes across party lines, and that progressives can use this to not only win but to make this country a better place. To find out why, please read below the fold.
I hadn't really thought about the girls in the lake until my buddy Rush, a man with an exquisitely keen water mind, said without looking up from his dinner, " What really concerns me is that there are two small children without life jackets playing in a rubber raft in the surf probably without any adult supervision. They can either get carried out to sea or get beaten on the rocks." I've been in many tight spots with Rush whether dealing with juvenile delinquent children or Mother Nature. In an instant, I was concerned and began monitoring the situation watching the kids. Sure enough, little by little they were being carried out from shore and further down the shoreline.
Before finishing the story, I will give some background. Prior to becoming a Dad, I was an adventurer. Kayaking, hiking, biking, skiing, climbing, there wasn't much that I didn't do. Once I was married and my first child was on the way, my wife gave me two rules. 1) I was not allowed to die, and 2) I was not allowed to get hurt. These rules made perfect sense to me. We live on top of a mountain in Central PA where the weather can be quite extreme, and we heat our house almost entirely by firewood that I cut, split, and stack myself. Breaking either of the two rules could be catastrophic to my family.
I believe that adults have a personal responsibility to keep themselves in good shape physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. I have spent much effort researching and brainstorming ways to keep myself in shape while still devoting myself to my family. First there were the backpacks to carry the boys on our nightly hikes, and then there was the trailer to take my boys on rides up and down our mountain. At playgrounds, I climb and play with my boys. I have a responsibility to develop the physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual fitness of my sons.
Earlier in the vacation before my boys went swimming, I had checked out the lake. I waded into the lake checking out the lake bottom and the characteristics of the rocks. When my boys did go swimming, I played with them in the surf. It was with great pride that I watched my oldest son jump from rock to rock with the agility of some type of water-loving cat while waves crashed all around him. When the boys got tired and had enough, I carried them to shore. I've been in a number of tough spots, and I know that there is a time when you go from being emotionally able to handle the situation to not being able to do so. I know that I can't pad the world. So, I aim to build their skills without blowing them out.
Back at dinner on the lake, my friends and I continued eating and drinking, but while monitoring the kids in the boat, I did a visual check to make sure my gear was handy. There was an adult who was supposedly supervising the kids presumably one of the kids' mother, but visual inspection led to the conclusion that she was in no shape physically or emotionally to deal with this worsening situation. Finally, I heard the call for help. I jumped up and into my trunks, I grabbed a couple of life jackets, and headed down the trail to the beach. I waded out into the lake( I was in chest deep water), grabbed the rope on the raft, and towed the raft into shore. The woman thanked me and gave the inexcusable excuses, "...I'm in street clothes...I didn't know how deep it was..." I gave her a dirty look and walked off. I was angry. Very angry. The kids could have been pulled farther into the lake, possibly capsized, and possibly drowned because of her negligence.
I was not going to let those girls drown. Of course not, I'm a Democrat. But, neither would any of my friends at the cottage, two of whom are Republicans. For all their "You're On Your Own" rhetoric, they wouldn't have let those girls drown either.
This was not an earthshaking revelation to me. I have witnessed the overwhelming outpouring of food, monetary donations, and services many times in my own community when someone gets sick. My family and I were the recipients of it two years ago when I was diagnosed with a brain tumor. I saw the anger that was aroused at the government response to Hurricane Katrina...
Recently, I have been re-reading Jared Bernstein's All Together Now: Common Sense for a Fair Economy. In this book, Mr. Bernstein lays out the problems with the "Your On Your Own (YOYO)" ideology. He also lays out his "All Together Now" plan and how to talk to a YOYO. Not only is this an interesting read, but I find it to be very practical. Politics is, at its heart, about communicating. Don't believe people's words, watch their actions. In reality, a huge majority of us believe that "We are all In This Together (WITT)." The trick now is to convince people that they do and get them to vote accordingly.
To find out more about my campaign, please check out my website http://www.tonybarr2008.com
Thank you.