Out in the cold; left in the dark...

I just got home from the caucus. When I arrived around 6:50 p.m., there was an absolute buzz in the air; there was an energy that everyone seemed to share. People were feeling change and we knew we were all there to make a difference. The line wrapped around the polling place and down a city block. It was cold, but spirits were high. People were chatting with complete strangers-myself included, but that is nothing out of the ordinary for me. As time passed, the buzz began to dull. Minute by minute, then hour by hour the crowd became dejected, frustrated, angry, tired, confused, and eventually many were unable to handle standing in the cold any longer. There were no restrooms available to the public. We were told that the pastor of the church opposed allowing the citizens to use the facilities because he was concerned about them being "trashed". How's that for compassion and Christian outreach?

By the time the caucus procedures started, I would estimate that over half of the people (perhaps as many as two-thirds) who once stood in the line had given up and gone home. For those that remained in line, there was virtually no communication about why we were not being let in. People were becoming fed up. There was talk of "those on the inside" knowing that people would start leaving if they made us wait so long. There were conspiracy theories. It is interesting to see how people's minds start to wander when they are kept in the dark (literally and figuratively). It was about 9:30 or 10:00 p.m. by the time the line started to move inside the doors. I got inside the building at 10:35 p.m. and waited another half hour before making it into the caucus area. As I looked around at the people in line, I could no longer see the energy in their eyes. People looked beat down. They were tired. I suddenly felt sadness. This is the reason a lot of people do not trust the "system". They are told one thing and they follow the guidelines in place, only to find that the right hand does not know what the left is doing. People are often "left in the cold" when it comes to receiving what the government promises to deliver.

I do not regret this experience. I honestly believe that it is necessary to see how the system breaks down in order to know that fixes are necessary. The important thing is putting some effort into demanding those fixes. We cannot sit back and complain about the "system" if we are not willing to step up and help change it.