With little time left before the transition of power, using your voice now can be powerful.
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Welcome to the fifth week of “One Small Thing.” If you have been keeping up, you’ve seen almost 30 things accomplished and hopefully been inspired to attempt a few of them yourselves.
We’ve very little time left before the presidency changes hands. On January 20, the avenues we will be able to follow to make a difference may change. For now, here is a list of daily things you can do right now that have a chance of changing our course, even if just by a degree or two.
1) I used Feeding America’s email service to send a letter to my state lawmakers to save SNAP benefits. Feeding America is a nonprofit I’ve worked with before, out there doing the work for those going hungry. The letter is pre-written, and you can edit it as desired. Feeding America sends it automatically to your congresspeople. In my state, it didn’t make much difference (one of my senators wrote me back a form letter that essentially said “tough cookies”), but it is important that my lawmakers understand that at least some of their constituents support these social services. The more of us who write in, the more they have to take our opinions into consideration as they worry about their reelection bids. You can find the letter here.
2) I requested inauguration tickets through my county’s representative in the House. Your congressperson probably has an online form where you can request this. They can only send out a limited amount. I Googled “request inauguration tickets [name of my county].” The congressperson’s website for the form came right up. I’m probably not going to get the tickets. But if I do, I won’t use them. The difference here from 2016 is that I’m not doing it for petty glee or out of spite. If it decreases the crowd size by two people, that’s something. If not, I tried. I don’t want to piss off the incoming president; I want to show the American people that Trump doesn’t have the overwhelming mandate he claims to have. This took me only a few minutes.
3) We all suffer through tragedies sometimes. At any given moment, someone you know is going through something unfathomable, expensive, life-threatening. When they reach out through social media or other means, it’s usually serious. No one likes to ask for help. One of my best friend’s younger sisters got into a car accident earlier in the month, and insurance is not going to cover the majority of her medical costs. She’s also going to be out of work for a while. Many of our fellow Americans live paycheck to paycheck; being laid up for even a short while or being faced with a large unexpected bill can be devastating, particularly if we have families to support. I could only give $20, but it’s something. If you’d be interested in doing this, here is the link to the GoFundMe she set up. But I encourage you to keep a watchful eye out for those in your network who are in need of immediate assistance. Odds are, you’ll see someone whom you know and love reaching out.
4) I signed the American Civil Liberty Union’s Trans Freedom Petition. As of this writing, almost 225,000 people have signed. The goal is 250,000. This petition calls upon the current court case “US v. Skrmetti” to ensure that the Constitution’s protections extend to all citizens, regardless of gender identity. This takes just a few seconds. Remember, even a small thing is better than nothing done at all. To sign, click here.
5) I signed up for another Right to Be training. This one focuses on bystander intervention to stop online harassment of marginalized groups. This group has lots of free classes on different days at different times, so check it out. Next week, I’ll report back on what this particular training taught me. It takes only seconds to sign up. Click here to check out the trainings.
6) I donated to the Associated Press. As a journalist, I truly believe in the importance of news media. I know there is a lot to be suspicious of, but we need dedicated reporters showing us the actual news of the day, and the AP is one of the steadiest hands in the industry. And with corporate newspaper chains pulling their support from the AP wire, the hard-working journalists at AP are going to need help. I gave $20, a drop in the bucket, but something is better than nothing — especially if thousands of people join me. To check out the options, click here.
7) I made a lasagna for a local woman I know who has just been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. This, of course, doesn’t help our political sphere at all, but small kindnesses proliferate throughout the world in a butterfly effect, and one less meal that family has to make frees them up to care for their mother. People touched by kindness tend to be kinder in turn, breeding a society where the benefit of the doubt is given and favors accumulate. Through this, lives are made better. This took me an hour and a half.
Every action we take means something, no matter how small. And as we keep doing them, they keep adding up. Taking the wheel of our own lives, trying to help those around us, is the best way we can manage to hold on through what will invariably be a very hard four years. Join me. We can do this.
Past weeks of “One Small Thing” can be found here.
