North Carolina's Republican legislature has, according to a recent New York Times Op Ed piece, engineered the "Decline of North Carolina" by rolling back decades of legislation designed to care for the least fortunate among us. I tend to agree, and contemplated dragging the family to Raleigh to join in protests at the capital. I was pleasantly surprised to learn this morning that Dr. William Barber, president of the North Carolina NAACP, would be speaking at a rally/protest in Manteo (the county Seat) this evening. I knew I had to bring my daughter. Not that she would understand at three, but that she would see her mother and I standing in solidarity with members of our community.
Quinn seemed non plussed that we were standing around listening to speeches. No one was being arrested, voluntarily or otherwise. I imagine that would have generated some questions in Quinn's curious mind. I did catch her though shouting the responses to call and response slogans. Seeing my three year old daughter stomp her foot and shout, "not one step back" was pretty inspiring. I was filled with a sense similar to what must fill the hearts of evangelicals everywhere when their toddler raise their hands in a church meeting, or shout hallelujah. I'm not being snarky either. I don't think that my daughter is anymore an activist than that evangelical toddler is a willful disciple of christ. There is some satisfaction though in communicating the language to your child. And I showed my daughter tonight, unequivocally, that there are things in this life important enough that her normally sensible father is inclined to passionately shout otherwise ridiculous phrases.
I don't want to wax political here. The real lesson for me tonight came about ten minutes before we left home. The surf was perfect. The water was warm, a small rain shower had blown through, and I'd had a rough day at work. The ocean was begging me to play. It was too easy. Put on some trunks, grab a board, stroll to the sea, and enjoy the evening. Come home, eat dinner with my girls. Crack open an ice cold beer and reflect on the fact that though the legislatures behavior has been despicable, it doesn't affect me or my own directly. And there is the problem in living where we live. Our surroundings do not remind us of the struggle and pain so many of our human family endure. It is incumbent on us to keep a well oiled conscience. The legislative failures of our elected officials are our failures as a community. I'm sure none of that was communicated to Quinn tonight. But being there was a step with her, hand in hand, down a road that I hope will be characterized by frequent reminders to offer a helping hand when you can, and stand in solidarity when you don't know what else to do. It's great to live in a place that energizes you with what it has to offer. But you have to expend that energy in places where it is needed.
Because all the damage that the North Carolina legislature has done will probably only leave more money on my balance sheet this year, I'll tax myself, in waves, making a tiny sacrifice. I'm not sure my family's presence will change anything. And I would not delude myself to say that passing on surfing once to go to a rally that posed no danger or even real inconvenience to myself, makes me part of the struggle. What I'm trying to understand is how to live a useful life where I am. Once you've worked, or lucked your way into the middle class, then made the geographical move that your middle income affords, you have to be really careful. It's pretty easy to become irrelevant...
