Red, White, & Bruised

Right now I should be in one of two places–intently listening to John McCain discuss women’s issues at a Town Hall Meeting in Blue Bell, PA or screaming like a banshee for Sarah Palin at a rally in Scranton, PA.  However, I’m at home, still in my pj’s, pondering how to best tackle my to-do list.

When I got up this morning, I didn’t feel like being up at 6:30 AM, didn’t want to drive an hour in rush hour traffic to get a ticket to the McCain event, drive to the event, and wait in lines with tons of women.  Then I didn’t fancy sitting in a chair waiting a couple of hours for McCain to show.  After his crowd interaction/speech, I’d have to navigate out of the crowded venue and deal with more traffic.  The same goes for the Palin rally (although I did find out that I would have been with a group that had backstage passes to the event…but I found out a little too late.  Oh well). Plus, I did get to see McCain/Palin less than a week ago at a rally and have the pictures to prove it (read post).

One of the reasons I wanted to go to either venue was to hang with like-minded people and make new friends.  Seriously, rallies can be wild and the crowd energy is contagious.  But I really wanted attend these events to take more pictures (and hopefully figure out my lighting issues) and meet either McCain or Palin.  However, a lot of people want to meet McCain and Palin, so who I am in a crowd of thousands?

Sure, Sarah Palin is my hero–a woman whose courage I admire.  She’s well-spoken, real, and shows grace under a ridiculous amount of media attacks.  I wanted to encourage her and to tell her to keep fighting because there are woman (like me) who believe in her.  We are glad she is running for VP and feel that she represents us.  Her mere presence in this election is a kick in the face to everyone who told us we couldn’t because we’re woman.  That’s why I would give Sarah Palin a sincere hug, wipe the tears from my eyes, and say, “Thank you,  Sarah!”

John McCain, on the other hand, is someone I have admired for a long time.  I have always admired his ability to cross party lines to get things done and to fight for what he thought was right even if it meant going against the norm.  I believe that he’s a man of honor who deeply loves this country.  I don’t care if he’s in his early 70s because with age comes wisdom.  He’s proved the kind of man he is over and over again in a variety of heart-wrenching situations, and when he’s failed, he’s admitted to his folly.  I want a man of honor in the White House.  I want to shake his hand, thank him for his service, and tell him to keep fighting for the presidency.  Your fight is my fight, John McCain, otherwise I wouldn’t have given up hours of my life to volunteer for your campaign.

Truth be told, as much as I believe in the McCain/Palin ticket, I’m feeling a little red, white, and bruised.  I’m tired of going into my local “Victory Center” and making phone call after phone call to people who would rather not talk to me.  In fact, Sarah and I received four calls from the Republican Party telling us to vote for McCain, asking us to volunteer, and what not!  Ironically, one of the messages on our answering machine was left while I was volunteering.  Uh, yeah.

So, since I’m tired of getting all these ridiculous phone calls, I figure other people are tired of getting these phone calls as well.  Therefore, I feel less than excited at the prospect of making more phone calls that annoy people.  When I’ve asked if I can use my other skills, I am told that there’s nothing else I can do, but I see other people, who are unwilling to harass people for McCain, doing all sorts of other things such as greeting people at the door, putting together signs, entering data into computers, and so on.  I’ve been in there 13 times, 12 of which have been spent making calls.  I’m really getting bored…you know?  I want to be humble and to do what is asked of me, even if it seems really lame.  But just because studies say that phone calls are what win elections doesn’t mean that’s what reaches my generation.  Everyone I talk to is sick of the phone calls–I don’t want to be part of the problem.

Part of me wants to continue until the end, or at least until I leave for vacation on Nov. 1, but I’m just so sick of making phone calls.  I’m almost weary of the whole election.  I mean, it’s hard to have devoted so much time to a campaign only to hear on the news that your candidate probably won’t win the election anyway.  I’m starting to take attacks on Sarah Palin personally, like I’m a dolt for choosing to support a woman who seems like a complete idiot to so many.  Really, I just want the whole thing to be over.

Do I continue to make phone calls, even though I feel like they’re a hindrance?  Do I continue helping at the office because I want to finish what I started?  Should I demand other work?  I have no idea.  Maybe I should have attended one of the rallies in hopes that I could be encouraged by the energy of the candidates instead of sitting at home pondering what to do next.

I imagine a world without candidate phone calls, no political ads taking up commercial space when I was TV, and news about the election not dominating the headlines.  As for me, right now I’m red, white, and bruised.