But, that was then, this is now.
I don’t remember that; as that was the year I was pregnant with, and delivered my first child, a lot of events were ignored. My focus was on managing the sudden chaos in my own life. During that year, we moved – twice, once just days after I delivered our child, a month early. I’m really not sure just WHY my husband thought it was a good idea to change locations just at that time. The first move took us outside of the city, to a location where I knew no one, and had no access to transportation, or even a phone.
We left that place to return to my husband’s hometown, where I at least had some family support from the in-laws. So, that was an improvement.
So, that year, and much of the following 5 years, during which we learned to manage 3 children, from newborn to 4 years old, disconnected me from news of the world. If I didn’t have to feed it, wipe it, change it, or keep it from disturbing the neighbors in our building, I ignored it.
So, no, I don’t fault people for their ignorance of current events, or for depending on the mainstream media to keep them up on the news. I’ve been there, with family changes, deaths, unemployment, money worries, having to uproot myself and my family, packing and unpacking and learning how to manage a new environment.
Sometimes, life just gets too complicated; sometimes, you have to reduce your focus to the immediate crisis, and put all else out of your mind.
Some people use distractors such as reruns, game shows, music from their youth, gambling, eating junk food, and/or drinking/drugging. Others pick up a new hobby, or get obsessive about social media, TikTok, or other passions designed to quiet the noise in their lives.
Rather than try to use facts to try to persuade people who want to just vote the Default Option, try this:
- How are you doing? What’s going well? What causes you some concern? Listen to their answers, and DON’T bring up politics. Just listen to their concerns about life.
- Share your own struggles with managing your money in a time of inflation. Don’t get caught up in who to blame for it, what the root causes are, or fulminating about the Federal Reserve or other entities that are contributing to making life worse. If they have anything to add to that, listen, and note their worries.
- Thank them for the input, and add, “You’ve given me a lot to think about.” If you or they are the praying kind, offer to pray with them.
That’s it. At this point, speaking to their reason is just wasted time. People need to be LISTENED to, because talking about their issues will also, under the conscious level, prompt some mulling over just who might best handle these problems. We’re pretty confident that few will conclude that Harris/Walz is THE ANSWER.
Our goal is to give them access to someone in their life that is NOT putting high pressure on them to think too hard. Not forcing them to make a decision that may alienate their closest friends/family. Just gently moving them to express their concerns, without pressure.
Most people are smart enough to vote for the candidate who might help, or, at least, not hurt, their everyday lives. Let’s think about putting the information hose on ‘trickle’, and, instead, help them water the sprouts.
Little efforts. Baby steps.
Trump/Vance are the better candidates. Their election would, in fact, make most people’s lives better. So, let’s act as though we believe that, and ease up on the throttle.
And vote. In person, early. Don’t give some fraudster a chance to slip a vote in your name into the hopper. The firsts one to get that ballot in your name in, wins.
