October 23, 2008

YM Blog: From Cynicism to Hope

Posted by Lynne Nguyen at 9:53AM

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Nearly every gathering I'm in these days always circles back to Obama this, McCain that. We've chopped, diced and sliced the issue from every angle. Despite my jaded judgment, I can't help but be deeply moved by this election, specifically the presidential race, though there are many important issues on the ballots this season.

Many of us have already gone through the back and forth of our love/hate of Obama, and most of us have already worked through those issues. The long list of people I know working and volunteering for the Obama campaign is evidence of that. But I just gotta speak my piece.

But first, let me make myself clear: I don't think of Obama as my savior. I have serious issues with a number of his stances, and I cringe every time he talks about how he's going to be strong in the war on terror. I know he's got his faults but, for me, he symbolizes so much more.

I may be young and new to full-time community organizing, but already, I've seen people drop from the movement left and right because so much about this work is unsustainable. People burn out. People beat themselves up over not doing enough, not changing enough, and not being enough. They ask themselves repeatedly, "Can I? Can we?" So many of us feel like we don't have what it takes to make this world what we want it to be.

But with the crazy, unbelievable ground-up swell of the Obama campaign, I'm filled with hope (groan! I know).

There's this grassroots organizing training program I went through called the Movement Apprenticeship Activist Program (MAAP) out of an organization in Oakland called the Center for Third World Organizing (CTWO). At last year's graduation, long-time, dope organizer Xochitl Bervera spoke of how disillusioned and unmotivated she was with the movement and her work post-Katrina coming from New Orleans. And then she told a short story, which I hope she doesn't mind me writing up here:

She went to church one day, where the pastor was talking about the story of Noah and his ark. Now, I have never been, and never will be of the Christian/Catholic bent, but I know this story. You know, there's going to be a massive flood and God tells Noah to build this giant ark and populate it with living things so they can all survive and repopulate when the sky stops pouring. Sure, Noah says, and he starts working away.

It took Noah a long time to build this boat (some say 100 years). Day after day he spent toiling away on this project no one really understood. Maybe his partner would say to him, "Honey, I miss you. Stop working on that thing and spend some time with me." Maybe his brother was like, "You know, this thing of yours is taking up all of my space in the backyard now. Can't you just quit it already?" But Noah just kept on going because he believed.

People, I am not a religious person, and I am not Christian/Catholic/Protestant/etc and never have been. I never thought I'd be referencing biblical stories, but the story spoke to me.

Noah had no real concept of what was to come; he had never seen a massive flood before. It took him a LONG time and a LOT of work to accomplish this goal of his for whatever vision he saw in his head.

I have no real concept of the world that I am working so hard toward. I mean, I have idea, but I can't honestly say I know how this is going to all work out, even though I have such faith in the progressive values I hold dear. And if you say it took Noah 100 years to build this boat, it puts everything in perspective.

Change takes time. Change maybe doesn't come packaged the way we imagined it in our heads. Working for that change takes patience, like it did for Noah. Change may be an overused term by now, but I still need and crave it like the air I breathe.

For many people in the progressive movement, Obama is a symbol of change, and you know what? I like the direction we’re changing in, even if it isn’t exactly what I daydream about. He may not totally align with my political ideology, but he’s closer than any other major presidential candidate of my short lifetime.

Sure, I have my issues with Obama, but it’s hard to deny his effect on people, on this nation. A year ago, I would have laughed you out of the state for predicting the groundswell of grassroots support for his campaign. I never expected to see so many people come together for a movement. And yes, I’m calling it a movement. As someone who works hard on the daily to recruit volunteers, fundraise, talk about issues like race, and get people motivated enough to do something about the state of their community, I see what the Obama campaign has done as nothing short of amazing.

The potential for an Obama victory will mean so much more than the end of the Bush doctrine and will mean so much more than having a person of color in office. To me, it validates my work with everyone else building our own version of an ark. It validates my belief in the ability for movement and social change.