Making a Difference

POSTNOTE MAY 20: If you are wondering what you can do, I’d recommend reading this from the national group Indivisible, received yesterday.   And read the slogan on the red tee-shirt in the below picture: “Stand Up, Speak Up, Show Up“.  The solution is you, and all of us.

The real world we’ve chosen to live in is, unfortunately, rife with division – always someone else’s fault.  We see this play out every day.  The Minnesota legislature is almost equally divided, by constitution had to complete its work by last night, didn’t, so now a special session looms.  What is maddening is that ultimately, regardless of the passion on either or both sides, settlement has to be reached, and will be.  We know how this works, because this is common.

Who’s fault is it?  In my opinion, all of us, collectively, everywhere.  We are still a democracy where every vote (including not voting at all) matters.  As the saying goes, we “need to wake up and smell the coffee”.  Get engaged.  “Show Up”!

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Saturday, on spur of the moment, I decided to go to a demonstration at the Minnesota State Capitol, about a half hour from where I’m typing this post.  The snapshot below is my interpretation of the event, which I found most worthwhile.

Actions like this demo are not intended to be ends.  Their intention is to increase awareness and later and greater action by a much larger constituency.  The lesson from this action, and any other, is what happens later, when the participants are back home..

may 17, 2025 at the MN State Capitol St. Paul MN photo by Dick Bernard

This demo was specifically about teacher pensions, which might make one who knows me wonder: “he’s been retired 25 years, he’s not on a teacher retirement pension, why bother to come to such an event?”

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If you’re reading this, you know we’re at an intensely divided time in our countries history, with boatloads of very serious issues.  If you look at the back of the red tee-shirt you’ll see the reasons the people were there on Saturday: ‘Stand Up, Speak Up, Show Up”.  Regardless of your own personal issues, these words have never been more important.

As my life moves along incessantly, I’ve come to grips with the fact that I am one person among an immense number of persons – the proverbial grain of sand.

I once had the audacious notion that if each one of us could reach two others, and they repeated the action with two more, there could be dramatic results in a short time.

I did the experiment.  It didn’t work, for all sorts of reasons.

So I modified my strategy to “each one reach one“.  That is more doable, but not a slam dunk, and it takes effort to find the one to reach, and then repeat and continue.

So, when I do these posts I am always in argument with myself.  Am I making sense to me, personally, in these words?  This requires some self-reflection – arguing with oneself – and acknowledging that there are legitimate differences of opinion on almost anything, and this ratchets up dramatically in a complex society such as ours is.

What doesn’t work is to get mired within a cell of persons who subscribe to the certainty of the rightness of their position, at all costs.  A win at any cost is a guaranteed loss in the long term….  But we have a society that is accustomed to that.

What led to the demo yesterday was the fact that the Minnesota legislature is almost exactly evenly divided, and negotiations and compromise are a required certainty, including the specific items at issue which led to several hundred showing up at the state Capitol on Saturday.  Likely they all agreed on the general issue which brought them together.  Certainly, there are lots of differences of opinion even amongst ‘birds of a feather’ on other issues of personal concern.

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So, again, “why come to such an event?”, as I did, yesterday.

First, I was a teacher for nine years, I represented teachers for 27 more, my parents were career public school teachers, two of my children are educators, all of our nine grandkids have gone to school….

But I had no particular reason to go to this demo.  Because I’m a life member of Education Minnesota, the sponsoring entity, I received its mailer, brief and very effective, that alerted me to the essential details: “Our state legislative leadership and governor will be in final negotiations on the state budget before the Legislature must adjourn on May 19.  This is a critical time to make our voices heard loudly to advance strong schools and strong pension reform!“.

Even with the flier, I probably wouldn’t have attended, but  I was at a meeting a few days ago where a teacher was simply announcing to the group she was with that she was going to attend this rally.  Saturday, I decided to show up.  I didn’t have a sign, but I did stand up and show up.

On publishing this post, perhaps one or two or three or more folks will want to learn more.

I’m not sure, of course, how the organizers will assess their effort; nor do I know much about the specific issue, nor what is on the table for the legislature whose session is supposed to conclude this week, though may end up in a special session.  I don’t know.

Personally, I think the rally was very effective.  Organizers know you don’t need tens of thousands at a demo.  What they’re looking for are the people who will attend and then go back to their fellow citizens and make sure the message is shared much more broadly.

In the end analysis, politics is people, period.  If you wish to make a difference on anything you have to Stand Up, Speak Up, Show Up.

Thanks to everyone I saw at the rally on Saturday.