*glasses fogging up from tears of joy*
Sep. 18th, 2008 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
athenaltenaHoly fuck. This canvassing really puts you through the physical, emotional and mental meat grinder. But I'm still enjoying every minute of it and wouldn't trade it. And I really feel like a decent human being, which is odd, but it's really what I'm feeling.
Today I did better than on Tuesday, but still not well. I only managed to get 3 contributions that amounted to $35, but each one of those contributions was so heartfelt that I can't force myself to be upset about their size. The one that sticks out in my head was from an Armenian couple who moved to the States, and when the wife heard who I was with she was so excited that she ran out and wrote on her check "For my future President the Honorable Barack Obama." Wow. The other one that really got me was a 16 year old girl who lamented that she couldn't vote, but gave me $5. When you're 16 that's a lot, but she cared so much about it (and apparently convinced her mother, who was a Republican, to vote for Obama) that it meant the world and much more than just a simple check, which is why I'm not upset that I didn't make "quota" or anything like that.
Once I met up with the rest of my group and we were waiting for the bus Mike, the group leader, told me that he once had a guy who was an immigrant who didn't have much, but gave him $5 in change from his kids' fund. I had to stop myself from crying when I heard that, as did Mike at the time, since it just hit us so hard somewhere. I don't really care what your politics are, but when you have people who still give to you even when they can't, something special is happening.
I just hope Barack knows just what he's managed to do and what he's inspired in these people. And now I actually am staring to cry, believe it or not. But it's not bad, and I'm really glad that I had the balls to start doing this despite it being the hardest thing I have ever done.
Today I did better than on Tuesday, but still not well. I only managed to get 3 contributions that amounted to $35, but each one of those contributions was so heartfelt that I can't force myself to be upset about their size. The one that sticks out in my head was from an Armenian couple who moved to the States, and when the wife heard who I was with she was so excited that she ran out and wrote on her check "For my future President the Honorable Barack Obama." Wow. The other one that really got me was a 16 year old girl who lamented that she couldn't vote, but gave me $5. When you're 16 that's a lot, but she cared so much about it (and apparently convinced her mother, who was a Republican, to vote for Obama) that it meant the world and much more than just a simple check, which is why I'm not upset that I didn't make "quota" or anything like that.
Once I met up with the rest of my group and we were waiting for the bus Mike, the group leader, told me that he once had a guy who was an immigrant who didn't have much, but gave him $5 in change from his kids' fund. I had to stop myself from crying when I heard that, as did Mike at the time, since it just hit us so hard somewhere. I don't really care what your politics are, but when you have people who still give to you even when they can't, something special is happening.
I just hope Barack knows just what he's managed to do and what he's inspired in these people. And now I actually am staring to cry, believe it or not. But it's not bad, and I'm really glad that I had the balls to start doing this despite it being the hardest thing I have ever done.
