“Having nothing is not an excuse for doing nothing.”
A Thread About That #AllInForVoting
Thing On Prime:
A Thread About That #AllInForVoting

Hi, I’m a single mom of three small children in the midst of a traumatic divorce I can’t afford. My kids are struggling to adapt to distance learning at home, my mortgage is in forbearance, and I just unexpectedly lost my job.
Also, I’m part of the LGBTQI+ community and I live in rural Texas, where I have been openly harassed on the street for being on a date with a woman.
I’d had plans earlier this year to move to a safer part of the country (how you doin’, New England?), but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
I’d had plans earlier this year to move to a safer part of the country (how you doin’, New England?), but ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
Honestly? There are a lot of moments when I feel like I should be able to just freeze up and feel sad and scared for a little bit.
So I did some of that tonight. I turned on my TV and sat on the couch.
So now I’m sitting here in my living room, watching All In, listening to @staceyabrams recall her parents’ rule that she and her siblings had to devote time to helping others in need.
So now I’m sitting here in my living room, watching All In, listening to @staceyabrams recall her parents’ rule that she and her siblings had to devote time to helping others in need.
“We would volunteer at soup kitchens and homeless shelters. If there was someone in need, my parents found a way to make sure we were there to help. Which was odd to us because, we would point out, we were poor too. Why are we serving other people?
“They would say, ‘Having nothing is not an excuse for doing nothing.’”
Y’all.
Y’all.
Okay, so pause: first I want to clarify that I know I don’t have “nothing” (or anything close to it.)
I’m going through a very, very difficult moment, but I’m also a white, cis woman who lives smack in the middle of middle-class and I can be straight-passing when I need to be and I have privilege that goes for miles.
But I have days when I just want to lament and feel bad. Especially now that I have more time (and less money) on my hands and it’s becoming increasingly likely that our nation’s leadership is going to stack SCOTUS with people who will make it harder for people like me to exist.
But y’all.
Y’ALL.
“Having nothing is not an excuse for doing nothing.”
Carolyn and Robert Abrams, you are ANGELS to me tonight. I obviously don’t know you, but I have genuine love for you and the space you occupy in this world.
Carolyn and Robert Abrams, you are ANGELS to me tonight. I obviously don’t know you, but I have genuine love for you and the space you occupy in this world.
More phonebanks and virtual activism are in my immediate future.
I’ll be making sure my deputy voter registrar status doesn’t go to waste in a voting district that’s gerrymandered all to hell.
Fostering community in this climate is hard, but I’ll be looking for other ways to connect to others and care for them.
I don’t know how to end this thread. But, like...do y’all want to phonebank with me? It’s more fun with friends.
