INSPIRE CHANGE WITH DEEDS AND WORDS

“Inspire change” are not just pretty words to say.

You can say it, write it, but there’s more:

Show it.

Remember the writer’s trope of, ‘Show, don’t tell?’

Do both to inspire change.

The top image is a chunk of the Berlin Wall.

That was a change 70 years in the making when Eastern Europe worked to get out from under the Soviet Union.

What the heck is a soviet, and was there really a union?

From my vantage point of historical education, the Soviet Union, USSR, showed their idea of union in 1956 and 1968, first in Hungary, then Czechoslovakia.

Poland won their freedom in 1989 without the tanks rolling in to crush their changes.

Different parts of the world don’t like change. They seem to hate change.

Look, I’m not crazy about changes either, but when a small act, like voting, can have a huge effect on people who need a change in their lives, just do it.

Vote Like It Matters

This is the sign standing in my neighborhood.

Why?

Because the property owner wants to inspire change.

Does Oregon want a governor short on experience, but long on Trump?

The questions of character come up with:

Who won the 2020 election?

Was Jan. 6 an insurrection, or a normal day with regular tourists onsite?

Is there a map once you take office to drive Oregon down the same road as the neediest states in what is a real union, and not an armed hostage union like the old USSR?

If You Need Voting Instructions To Inspire Change

Vote As If You See Change Like A Delicious Cupcake

First, take the wrapper off to make sure it’s what you think it is.

No one wants a dog shit cupcake, but it happens. That’s a change no one needs.

So take the wrapper off, give it a good eye, and vote.

If you are short sighted, liked the cupcake, and eat as many as possible, you might be a republican.

If others enjoying the same cupcake bothers you so much that you stuff as many as possible into your pockets, your partner’s pockets, then complain there are no cupcakes left, you might be a maga republican.

On the other hand, if you want to inspire change, one is enough.

Vote For The Future, Not Past Shame

When people see a gray haired white man in today’s climate, a stranger to you, there’s a certain question.

Or maybe it’s just me?

It’s shameful for educated, sophisticated men of the world, stoop to offer dog shit cupcakes to their constituency and convince them otherwise.

“Eat the cupcake to prove you’re a man.”

But it smells like shit.

“Who do you trust, me or your nose?”

Well I trust you with everything financially and spiritually.

“Then eat the cupcake when I tell you to eat the cupcake.”

Okay.

“How was it?”

I think I’m going to be sick.

“Before you hurl, write me a check to further the cause.”

What cause?

“Dog shit donuts for everyone.”

But I got a cupcake.

“Stop complaining and write the check. NOW!”

Yes, sir.

The Future Is Now

If you go through a few things, and your family goes through a few things, you do one of two things:

Help out.

Or disconnect.

I made the wrong choice to disconnect and it came back as an educational moment.

I reconnected and have the receipts.

Helping out can result in consequences.

Like the time I stopped a man from punching a woman over and over in a bus kiosk . . . with my face.

It happened in NW Portland when I lived there. Since it was my neighborhood I couldn’t walk by like everyone else.

After clocking me the man and woman hustled off together. But, I achieved my goal. He stopped punching her.

Inspire Change Where It Matter Most

Then there was the time I mended fences for the good of people other than me.

I tore a wall down. Not the Berlin Wall, but a wall of misunderstanding.

My reward was a night in the local ICU for observation because I took another shot.

Getting punched out on a city street was one thing. I didn’t go down and had the wherewithal to help the police arrest my assailant. So I can take a punch.

After mending fences I took a dive. And I’d do it again. Not to prove anything, but to inspire change.

And it worked.

I’m happy to share my heartfelt gratitude, but not so happy to learn about heartbreak syndrome.

Mine is a face of compassion and caring. Just take a look. I’m a man of deeds and words.

And being such a man, I can’t tolerate the manipulation and Big Lies spread by those who know better but keep at it.

Vote like you’ve got a wife who deserves the same rights and protection as a man.

Vote like you’ve got sons and daughters who mean the world to you.

Vote like you’ve seen the spark in a baby’s eyes and hope they get to live in a world as good as you can make it.

Vote for your community, your town, your state. Vote for education.

Nobody votes for dog shit cupcakes, dog shit donuts, or someone associated with a reality show TV star who eats it up.

Oregon is better than that. So are you.