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First off, I would like to thank the many people who dropped off a bag or bags of groceries for the Brattleboro Area Drop in Center during our Load the Latchis event. We had a great day and a ton of fun doing it.
I would also like to thank Latchis Arts and the Latchis theater for opening up for us (and Mike who met me there at 5:30 in the morning).
I would also like to thank our sponsors: Members 1st Credit Union; Environmental Compliance Services; Vermont Center for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing; GS Precision; River Valley Credit Union; New Chapter; Brown Computer Solutions; Northeast Home Loan (which also sent us tons of volunteers); Bayada Home Health Care; US Cellular; World Learning; Fleming/Dead River; and Brattleboro Savings and Loan. Without these folks, WKVT is not able to move forward with this great event, so thanks to all.
Throughout the day we brought folks into the theater to witness the progress; I was often caught off guard by their responses. You see, when you work the event as closely as I do you often forget what you’re doing and whom you’re doing it for and it becomes something else.
We had a goal to put a bag of groceries in every seat and that’s all I was trying to get accomplished. It wasn’t until I brought a lady in when the theater was three-quarters of the way filled and she started to cry. It was then that I realized what a theater full of food looked liked. It
So if I were to take that lesson and move it to a grander scale, it would push aside this whole political season. My wife put if best when she said, "While we did this, it didn’t matter if we were Democrats or Republicans. We did it to help one another." She was 100-percent correct. So when I look at this political landscape, I can’t help but think to myself, this is truly ridiculous. The Republicans just held their convention, which featured a rambling Clint Eastwood who was more reminiscent of that website "BLEEP, my Dad Says," which quotes some pretty funny things, but they’re only funny because they’re a little demeaning and kind of stupid (but they are funny). And this week it’s the Dems turn to go blah, blah, blah to a room full of like-minded people and get a huge round of applause.
Frankly, I’ve had it.
It needs to come back to community. I understand the importance of the election process, but I understand that it’s more important to help a neighbor. We all spend a lot of time complaining about the process and doing little to change it. For those that work at it all the time (trying to change the system), there are just not enough of you, so you’re battling uphill. But the one thing we do (especially in these communities) is rally. Fire -- we hit the streets. Flood -- we hit the streets. Someone can’t meet their medical expenses due to an unforeseen injury or illness -- again, we hit the streets. If elected officials served us like we serve ourselves then we would live in a pretty good place. But as I’ve said before, the unelectable are serving the unservable and it’s not a good situation.
I’m not saying we don’t need a government; we do, because without the illusion that somebody somewhere is doing something we’d go nuts. I would love to have a government that really took care of the middle class as opposed to the "1 percent." Because in times of trouble, the 1 percent are pretty self-sufficient and the 99 percent need the most help. Which is why we are able to mobilize so fast when the stuff really hits the fan: The majority takes care of the majority. So stop being political and be a little more friendly to your community; it’s where you’ll see immediate impact.
As for political jokes, they’re not that funny ... because we’re seeing too many of them getting elected. What the hell is up with that?
Fish is the morning talent on Classic Hits 92.7 FM. He also offers up his opinion on-line at www.whatda hell.net. E-mail him at fish@wk vt.com.
