The week is drawing to a close and I’m exhausted. However, I’m still planning on going to the rally tomorrow in Whitewater. It is at 6 pm at the flagpoles. If you are local – come on out. There will be a debate in City Hall at 7 pm. I am most interested in that.
Here I am 47 years old and I’ve never been politically involved. I still don’t think I’ll vote by party lines. However, I am definitely going to make sure I know who I’m voting for. This is definitely a different experience for me. See I’m considered a baby boomer so is my husband. We are at the tail end of it though. We were barely born in the 60s so we weren’t involved in the protests at that time. My sisters were in High School and College / Tech School during the Vietnam War protests.
I believe strongly in standing up for what you believe in. I’ve just never felt the need to band together. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve written letters to legislators and newspapers. I’ve fought for what I thought was right. I just never had a whole lot of other people agreeing with me before.
There is stress. I am not sleeping. I’m worrying about a whole list of things. Under the worry though is the knowledge that this NEEDS to be done. I know some of you disagree with my beliefs and my comments on here. That is just fine by me. Everyone is allowed their opinions.
I’ve had a word or two from friends (or a lot more than that). Here’s the thing. In my emails every day I get a LOT of stuff from all sorts of unions. I read them. I look through them and try to find the primary source of their information. When they use inflammatory verbiage and inappropriate language – I stop reading and discard the email. When they give us data – I go look for more data to back it up.
I don’t know if it is because I’m a writer and I want three (at least) solid sources for information or if it is because I just do research. I want the primary source of the information. Every day we hear propaganda from each side. We hear horror stories and rumors.
I don’t want that and I try not to pass that on. I want FACTS. I listen to both Fox and MSNBC. Fox is horrible and incorrect all the time. MSNBC is incorrect some of the time and some times they blow things out of proportion.
When I want NEWS I try to gather information from a primary source. For instance – I was told that teachers make over 100,000 grand a year with their benefits. I googled it… boy is there a lot of crap out there and a lot of opinions. This is what I did – I went to the Department of Public Instruction. They have an Excel spreadsheet which gives highs/lows/average wage and average benefits for each school district. I looked there.
I’m not always right. I’ve been known to get upset and say what I’ve been told. Then I calm down and do the research and find – oopppss not quite the right information. But I try not to do that.
The only way I can battle the stress of the situation and keep any amount of sanity is to ferret out the facts as I am able. These are not always reassuring but at least I know I have the facts. There are things worth fighting for and I’m sure the history books will report what the winners did as being right. I wonder if those who live through it will have the courage and the voice to tell what it was like to live in these times. History can’t express the worry, fear, and all the other emotions that flood over you as you watch this unfold. Only people can do that. Hopefully there will be people brave enough to share how they feel with all the turmoil. Will you? Post if you are…