I haven’t even officially announced my campaign, but I wanted to take a moment to write out some of my thoughts as to WHY I decided to run for city council.
I’m a regular person. I walk to work. There are pet restrictions in the building I live in. I jog on Dallas Road and ride the Galloping Goose. I have friends that leave Victoria because they can’t find jobs or affordable housing. I love looking out at the Olympic Mountains on a clear day to marvel that another country is just across the water. I enjoy the multitude of coffee shops and craft breweries in the city.
Rather than chanting the famous quote from Ghandi, “Be the change you wish to see in the world,” I believe we are the change we are waiting for! I’m not going to be able to change this city alone, because I’m just 1 person.
Change happens incrementally, individually. If we each did 1 random act of kindness a day, what would our city look like? What would our neighbourhoods look like?
Maybe it’s picking up litter that isn’t yours. Maybe it’s smiling at a panhandler and recognizing their humanity. Maybe it’s small talk in a line-up to make time go by just a little faster. We’re not all so different. We’re all innately in need of connection no matter how much curmudgeons say otherwise.
I am a person who is willing to run and willing to listen. I care about our community.
10 Reasons Why I am Running for City Council
- Because I want to show my children and youth that women are able to have a flourishing public career, a loving home, and a fulfilling marriage. I want to show my daughters that they can be strong women in this world.
- Because I do not feel represented through current and past council members. There are no younger, female, minority voices. No one looks like me. No one speaks for me. Neither I, nor a representative of my demographic, are at the table, and our voices matter.
- Because no one will seek me out and invite me while I patiently do my own thing. There is no prophesy that I will save the world. I am not ‘the chosen one.’ I’m not Neo, Ash Ketchum, Sailor Moon or Harry Potter. But I am a willing volunteer who is rising to the occasion.
- Because I offer a unique perspective as an intersectional person. Not only am I a millennial and a woman, I am also an immigrant of humble origins, a dyslexic who has overcome many obstacles, and a mother of an invisible child through loss. I have a lot to give.
- Because I want to listen and learn. I admit that I don’t know everything. I’m not an expert in every issue, but I will take the time to listen, study, learn, and discern. I’m OK saying, “I don’t know,” but I will also figure it out because I am eager and curious.
- Because I’m not angry. I’m not angry because you can’t be curious and angry at the same time. If we seek to understand the wants, hows, and whys of someone’s narrative or a specific circumstance in order to truly find a solution, we can’t be angry. Anger turns our hearts and ears off.
- Because I am hopeful and optimistic, yet realistic and pragmatic. I’m not going to bring about world peace, but I believe there are ways I can serve to make a difference in our communities and in our city.
- Because I am human and imperfect. I might say the wrong thing because of ignorance or unintended bias due to ignorance. I’m not perfect, but what I am is good enough. Leaders aren’t made of steel or iron; they’re just people with hearts in their bodies and brains in their heads. They’re just willing, voluntary people, trying their best.
- Because I am a compassionate witness. Having worked with many urban poverty rescue missions, I am attentive to the struggles of those in need. Empathy is feeling with someone without judgement.
- Because I have nothing to lose. Maybe I’ll be embarrassed if I’m not elected, but no one will remember a week later. Maybe this campaign will be time I could have spent building something else. Or maybe I have everything to gain — people to meet and learn from, new friends that may last a lifetime, and processes to dissect and master.
All in all, it feels a little scary to be running for City Council and I may be absolutely crazy for even trying, but my heart is here right now and I have a helluva group cheering me on.
