What's your thing? - Wednesday Warrior

As we get nearer to the year long deluge toward the US Presidential election, I'm reminded of a conversation I had during the 2008 elections with a friend of mine. I'm fairly political outspoken, especially during election cycles. I think everyone should get involved in their community at some level. A friend of mine at some point said she didn't like politics because there is too much to worry about. She got overwhelmed.

Do not get overwhelmed!

There is no reason to get overwhelmed and do nothing. All you have to do is find your one thing. You do not need to do everything. Just one thing, and then you can pick up more stuff as time goes by. How do you pick that one thing?

Start asking yourself questions. Is there anything that affects you personally? Could something change that would improve your community? Is there a news story that has been making you angry? Any of these questions could lead to your one thing.

For me it was my sons diabetes. Once he got diagnosed I realized, that while I was able to take care of my son there are many, many people who are in much worse spaces than me. Single parents on low wages who might have children with diabetes or other chronic diseases that require constant management. Also, what happens if my situation suddenly becomes worse?

Insurance will not cover prior conditions, at least not well, so I'll have to have a job with great insurance for many years to come. Then there is the lacking of research. Some people may not like the idea of "socialized" anything. However, a socialized medical system allows research and data to be gathered across the country. Many countries that have socialized medicine are able to put this kind of data together. Blah, blah, blah...I'll talk more about all this stuff in future articles.

It was this line of thinking that has me focused on my thing. You may not agree with it and I may not agree with your thing but I believe it is important we all have our thing and fight for it. What is your thing? Do you have more than one thing? I have more than one thing I stand for but very few things I can really put energy into. But by focusing on one thing we can put more energy in to making a single difference and build up to a larger amount of accomplishments over time.