Be the Change You Wish to See in the World
By: Chandler Myer
Tags: LGBTQ, Healing, Creative Non Fiction, Progressive, Atheism

Be the Change You Wish to See in the World

I, Chandler Myer, promise to be the change I wish to see in the world.

Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash

While it may be unclear whether Mohandas Gandhi or Arleen Lorrance can be credited with this sentiment (see Quote Investigator’s article here), it remains a powerful admonition to those of us who are truly disturbed by the divisions in our society.

Full transparency requires I reveal a few facts about myself before moving forward:

1. I am a married gay man, mid-50s, Generation X;

2. I am a leftist, democratic socialist, progressive;

3. I am an atheist who finds all religions ridiculous, if not offensive;

4. I voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary and Joe Biden in the election;

5. I despise Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell.

The past four years have been extremely difficult for many, and possibly most, of us. I have listened as family and friends express support for Donald Trump’s wild and baseless theories, narcissistic policies, and democracy-destroying actions. Through it all, I continued to remind myself that these are people I have known for many years; some for my entire life. They are comprised of much more than support for Trump. They, like me, are complex beings who espouse sometimes contradictory thoughts resulting in actions that can be detrimental to both society and themselves.

The way our world changes is one-on-one and one-by-one.

A few weeks ago, I had a conversation with someone who expressed fear over electing Biden. She told me she had read it would be Kamala Harris who would actually run the government. Harris, to her understanding, is a socialist who would turn the United States into a communist country. Her voice had such urgency as she recited someone’s propaganda. I knew the only response was to educate her on the actual meanings of the words “socialist” and “communist.” The tone of our conversation cooled as we talked and I felt better to have, for at least a moment, introduced another side to her thinking.

I spoke with another person around the same time about the “disaster” that is the Affordable Care Act. He, like Trump, could not point to a single aspect of the law that would deem it a “disaster.” That fact did not deter him from holding this point of view. I took the time to remind him of the problems that existed before this law: refusal of coverage because of pre-existing conditions, unchecked cost increases, difficulty finding insurance when unemployed, and lack of coverage to those who are poor. Again, I don’t know if this changed his mind, but it introduced another view.

It is difficult for me to hear manipulative people work to conflate the terms “socialism” and “communism.” They certainly share some of the same tenets, but they are not equivalents. When public leaders misinform the population in this way, it creates a false narrative of the United States. The person who has been told to fear socialism lives on monthly Social Security checks, seeks medical treatment through Medicare, takes her leaves to the public compost, and drives on roads built and maintained by the government. The Affordable Care Act hater has a long list of pre-existing health conditions that were accepted under his Medicare insurance, and unemployed family members who are insured because of provisions in this law.

I am frustrated that people close to me have been indoctrinated into this way of thinking. Much of it can be traced back to the racist views some held of President Obama and now, Vice President-Elect Harris. To deny this notion would be to put my head in the sand and ignore the language used to describe these amazing leaders.