The Two Warriors in a Desolate World of Politics

Well, I just got back from a meeting tonight of a group that is in desperate need of more involvement and personally, more members.  It is so small and is at genuine risk of just ebbing away, as it has done before.  This is a group that now means so much to me, even though I didn’t know what it meant back when I first signed on with them.  To be honest, when I first joined up, it was just a way to pass the time.  It was just something to keep my mind occupied, since free time is the devil for an insomniac.  I often feel like this place (the dorms) is a prison.  I remember what Morgan Freeman’s character, Red, said in The Shawshank Redemption, “you’ll do most anything to pass the time.”

But this group that I am with, the UAA College Democrats, they are a group that one wouldn’t think would mean much in a state as red as Alaska.  To be honest, I didn’t think much of them when I first signed on.  I just thought that they were a nice idea that didn’t have the kind of platform the it needed.  I figured to myself, “how much could they possibly do in a state like this?  It was a horribly naïve thing to think.  It was a horribly misguided view that I actually do feel a little bit bad for having.  But tonight, I got to truly see how wrong I was.  It has made me feel both ashamed, and empowered, to do something more.

There are two people who run it.  I see them as warriors.  I see them as two warriors in armor standing against an army of red warriors.  They shouldn’t be standing alone.  They are unfairly stuck in this position.  They have so few allies in this war.  It didn’t use to be a war, but it has become one in the modern age.  It is a horrible thing for politics to be, and because of this, so many people have become apathetic to it all, just choosing to tune out and hope for the best, while they try and live.  This is not a good way for this country to be.  It is a point of shame to me as an American.  Almost everybody that I talk to just doesn’t care about the way things are in this world.  It is truly more terrifying to me than terrorism could ever be. 

These two people’s names are John and Heather Aronno.  They are too young to have as much weight on their shoulders’ as they have.  They are both too damn young to be taking the brunt of all this force.  They are fighting a battle that I don’t know if they can win.  I stand in awe of what they do.  I got to see tonight, as one of the warriors is fraying, and looking to fall.  It is my mission to help her, in any way that I can. 

I don’t know what has spawned this dedication in me.  I don’t know what it is that has made me want to try so hard to make a difference with these people.  To be honest, I never really cared all that much about helping.  I had become so cold after so much had happened.  I was sent through hell and back in the medical world, and that journey isn’t over.  My personal life was torn to pieces by forces that were completely beyond my control.  So much had went wrong, and I felt my heart crystallizing over.  But something happened.

I met a girl last year.  I met her and she didn’t like me at first.  I didn’t think much of her, either.  But one day, I caught something from her, an aura that told me that she needed my help.  I did what I could, and in trying to help her, I got back something that I thought I had lost forever- my desire to keep living.  I had lost that years ago, and I never thought that I could get it back.  Now, even after all that has happened between her and I, I continue to keep what she gave me.  I am so grateful to her, for doing what she did.  And now, now that I am back to my former self, it is time for me to do what I can to help the people that mean something to me.

And the Aronnos mean something to me.  Both of them are people that I admire without end.  They are trying so hard ot make life better for the whole world, and I don’t know if they can succeed.  I know that both of them will accomplish great things, and I want to help them, in whateve way I can.  I don’t know where this kind of dedication is coming from.  Even now, I feel something rising up in my stomach, and it feels pretty fucking good.  Heather sounded so worn down, and I feel like, as a UAA Democrat, and a friend, it is my duty to help. 

I am one of a forgotten and rare breed of people- those who help without expectations.  I don’t expect anything of them.  That’s perfectly fine with me.  I just want to do what I can, and hope for a better world.  Emily gave me back the desire to hope for something better, and now it is time for me and me to help spread that to all those we deem worthy.  People who are actually trying to make a difference, and not just saying that they are.  And those two warriors, they are definitely trying.

Until next time, a quote,

“I don’t want the UAA Dems to just fade away!”  -Heather Aronno

Peace out,

Lucien