Survival in the Real World, Part 1

30 years into life in the real world, it seems that if there was a point to my life it would be at least somewhat apparent, and perhaps it is. I am admittedly biased by my species, but it seems that human life is in fact the point, and the happiness and health of humans. This, despite being rather tired of people after a week spent canvassing for a group that professes to support clean water, and that sends people out to collect money and signatures from folks, door to door, telling them that their signatures are simply a statement that they agree about the need to keep our country's water clean.

I am sure that some good is done by this group, but I am not sure it is something I want to spend more weeks involved with. Of course I like clean water, and of course I think that leaving large percentages of our water sources legally unprotected is unwise, but I am not sure I would want to give money to a canvasser. While this specific issue seems pretty straightforward, I find it interesting that as a person hired to walk around telling people about it, I am not at all informed as to what arguments have been made against the Clean Water Restoration Act. I am not sure there are any such reasonable arguments, but this non-profit group does not seem particularly inclined even to ask.

Clean Water Restoration Act, from GovTrack

Key to understanding my reservations about this non-profit is the dynamic of lies and half-truths as a substitute for honest communication between grassroots organizers and the public. After all, if everyone I have spoken to during my canvassing so far was in fact telling me the truth, there were maybe 4 houses out of 3.5 blocks of a nice middle-class neighborhood in Denver occupied by people with regular jobs. The rest were unemployed and had no money. If that is the case, the rest of us are really in trouble. So, of course, as a canvasser, whose goal is to bring in as many legitimate signatures as possible, and more importantly, as much money as possible, one must assume that the person at the door, who has just said they have no money to give, is lying, and really can give something, if only one doesn't give up. And, from the totals brought in by experienced, 'expert' canvassers, obviously some of them are lying. Still, I hate the feeling of expecting that those around me are dishonest, just as much as I hate the implied assumptions that the contacts we are talking to are 'like lemmings' and that they need us to explain things to them in very simple terms for them to understand. No, we need to use very simple terms to try to get contributions out of people based on their agreement that they like clean water, for instance, not based on any real understanding of what is going on.

Scary as it seems now to jump back into the world of unemployment, and to try once again to find a job, it seems there must be something better than this with which to occupy my time and pay my rent.