Walking the Walk

Two years ago I moved back to St. Louis to be with my sister and brother. This was an easy decision to make. My time in Dallas had been fun and I grew both personally and professionally, but it was time to come home. The change in location motivated me to make some personal changes as well. I decided to get active in causes that mattered to me. I decided to walk the walk.

During the election cycle of 2004 I volunteered for several local groups. I also became active in an African American professional group, which has become my primary outlet for community service. The most amazing part of my new activism is that is was easy to do. The need for citizen involvement is truly great and I have been able to participate on every level.

But the fulfillment of activism brings with it frustration and disappointment. I was one of the few liberals who was thrilled to hear the call of 'moral values' during the 2004 election. No, I was not happy about the social judgment and attacks on civil rights that came along with it. But it was heartening to hear average citizens express concern for their communities and demand a voice in the political process. After November 4, I waited to see what all these community focused citizens would do. At the shelters I volunteer at for homeless teenage mothers, I waited to see bus loads of concerned Christian women show up and participate in the lives of young women who had chosen to have their children and now needed direction, a home and advice. And I waited in vain.

The easiest thing on Earth to do is to vote your values. Living them is another matter. I volunteer at two faith-based shelters for teenage mothers. One is run by a Catholic charity. And they are each in desperate need of donations and volunteers. So where are the moral value voters now? What are they up to? How are they walking the walk after convincing Missouri that family values were the correct moral values? Well, they are not volunteering at faith-based community organizations. I'd give my last dollar to see that bus pulling up this Thursday when I spend an hour teaching 10 brave young women the value of their vote and the role of politics in their life.

Walking the walk has it's rewards. It allows me to call out the value voters for the lazy hypocritical shits that they really are. Coating the conservative agenda in the gloss of family values was a smart move. They won. Now, every day they spend watching Joan of Arcadia rather than participating in the community they claimed to want to "protect" is a day they spend exposed as full of shit morality whores - yeah, whores who peddled their rhetoric to satisfy their lust of power.

Wanna shut me up? Walk the walk. The community you voted to "protect" is waiting.........