It’s nearing the first anniversary of my mother’s death. She had a good, long life I remember fondly with twinges of sadness and a full heaping of gratitude. My mom had an unwavering desire to bring people together, to find the good in everyone and never to judge a person based on race, sexual orientation or anything else you can name. She joined the League of Women Voters as a young woman, fought hard for the rights of people and the environment. I learned a great deal following her around doing tasks such as going to the Children’s Hospital wishing well where we cleaned out the coins left by those generous and those despairing. She did not have much time with four kids in tow. She was devastated by the death of her husband, our dad, at a very young age, nevertheless, she persisted.

I listened to conversations around the dinner table on human and environmental rights, with varying political views creating some raucous and lively disagreements but through it all, she was determined people would speak civilly, with respect and an attempt to understand the other side. This at times was no easy task, nevertheless, she persisted.

Through subsequent trials and tribulations, she fought hard, went back to school, found work she loved. She volunteered and gave back to the community. She cared deeply for her friends and family. For a couple of decades she wrote a weekly ‘family letter’ intended to keep a wide range of siblings and step-siblings in touch with one another as we ran around the planet in our teens and twenties. She could have let it go, nevertheless, she persisted.

As a result, my step-siblings have nothing ‘step’ about them. We love each other and argue with each other as if the same blood runs through our veins. In a way isn’t it true? The same blood that goes through my veins runs through every human on the planet, from the same source of star dust, created and returned to the earth since the beginning of time. The people of this earth have had many struggles, nevertheless, we persisted.

I feel my mothers strong desire within myself, the urge to bring all kinds of people together, to listen carefully to one another, with respect and an attempt to understand the other side. Politics are the avenue for figuring out how to live together in a peaceful society. I think we have forgotten this simple fact. So, in honor of my mother, even though in this day and age this may seem an impossible task, I will not be deterred from doing all I can to make this world a better place. I have many who say to me, it’s impossible, we can’t move forward from here, the divisions are too wide. I have people who tell me I’m a dreamer and a naive idealist. Nevertheless, I persist.