When asked to articulate why I spend Saturdays canvassing with my kids in tow, inviting the occasional vitriol of friends on social media, or hosting campaign events in my home, it came down to something a close friend said to me recently—now that I have kids, voting isn’t enough. This is why I have seized the opportunity to support Cort VanOstran, and why I refuse to stop inviting my friends to do the same.
I’ve been incredibly lucky—and I know it is luck—to have the good health, time, and resources to raise my three school-aged children in an environment that has fostered a love of books, art, the outdoors, and our community. They ride their bikes in our cul-de-sac, play sports with friends, and attend public schools that afford them outstanding opportunities like free music lessons, and even the chance to attend Space Camp.
If you asked my children, I hope they would quickly offer to you that they recognize their privilege and good fortune, as we have worked to instill gratitude and service to others as values. Like all parents, we struggle in this endeavor and certainly fail daily, but we see it as key in our parenting role. However, in the past 2 years, it’s become acutely apparent to me that my job can no longer be as easy as instilling gratitude and working for a more equitable community, but to fight for the very systems that make this possible. If I haven’t fought for those systems and institutions, there may be no place for gratitude and service to exist. And that cannot be accomplished merely by heading to my polling place every two years.
The fight is waged by knocking on doors, showing up to meetings and rallies, making calls, and most importantly, having hard conversations and intentionally listening. Where there is an opportunity to involve my children so that they can learn that the work for a better world—for us and others—is difficult and uncomfortable, we will take it. The reaction of my kids has honestly been eye-opening. My 11 year-old jumped at the chance to canvass for Cort for a second day in 100 degree St. Louis heat. My 9 and 6 year-olds made a game of counting Cort yard signs, and very scientifically predicting his primary win based on those numbers. More importantly, they are asking the “why,” and “what can we do,” of observed inequities. They are beginning to understand their role, not just as soccer and Minecraft players, but as global citizens, and it’s quite incredible.
I truly believe that every candidate holds a small piece of my kiddos’ potential in their hands, and as much as it’s my job as a parent to buy healthy foods and quality books, it’s my job to enable people like Cort to serve—a person who will champion fair wages, women’s right to choose, public school funding, and common sense gun laws. If my neighbors cannot access a school that is safe for their children, if my daughters grow into a world where they don’t have control over their own bodies, and if our water is no longer safe to drink, it falls on the shoulders of those of us who could have fought, and instead spent our time appreciating our good fortune and extolling our voting record.