APD Part XII––Politics
They say never to get involved in politics unless you have a thick skin. Oh wait! They say about writing, too. Well, I did dabble in politics for a short time in the 90s. In an election, there are always winners and losers. The key is to be involved, and if you win, great. But you have to move on if you lose. An election loss to a person with rejection issues hurts like a dagger in the heart. Click to Tweet #amwriting #rejection #APD
At least I won a couple of elections in my voting district before I lost a county-wide election, that made me want to jump into bed, pull the covers up, and never emerge.
I was recruited to run for our local party committeewoman in our voting district. I opposed the incumbent, whom some felt was a little too argumentative. I did everything right. I printed up post cards and went door-to-door. As I understand it, my opponent didn’t. This was a long time ago. You’ll forgive me if I’ve forgotten some of the details.
Anyway, I won! The first election of any kind I’d ever won in my whole life. Of course, in school, I never ran for office, because that was a popularity contest. At one time, during junior high and high school, I was a member of Job’s Daughters. I ran for Honored Queen and lost. You had to run for it while you were in 9th grade, so that by the time you were a senior, you’d work your way up through five offices to become Honored Queen.
Of course, as a young woman learning more of the things of the Lord, and learning that freemasonry shouldn’t be something I espouse, I renounced it a long time ago. But for a while, it made me feel as if I belonged somewhere. As a result of losing that election for Honored Queen, I got all the “runner-up” offices, which weren’t too shabby.
Fast forward twenty-five years. So, I’m the committeewoman for my voting district. Yay! I got to meet a lot of people, movers and shakers, so to speak. Then, I was recruited again to run for a county-wide office. It was a “row office”, something where you didn’t have much to do, but was there. I was again to run against the incumbent.
I should have won. I won the party’s endorsement. But I still lost by about three- to four-thousand votes, which is substantial for a county-wide primary. I was crushed.
That pretty well put a damper on my political aspirations after that. I remained as committeewoman for a few years, then I felt God’s invitation to go deeper into studying Him, so I went to Bible School. I learned later why I lost. It was because of who recruited me. There were a lot of people who didn’t like him.
Anyway––life throws things at you, whether or not you have rejection issues. It’s all in how you respond that either heals you or keeps you a prisoner of your own wounds. Click to Tweet #amwriting #rejection #APD
Donna L.H. Smith 