Portland, Oregon

Portland, Oregon

Monday, April 18, 2016

Young Dreamers

Our son is a middle aged man who works downtown Portland, and rides the transit system into the city every day. On the day Bernie Sanders came to Portland (the day the little bird landed on the lectern in front of him) a young woman boarded the train about 6:30 a.m.

Rodger said she was a little nervous and very excited. She was on her way to get in line to see Bernie Sanders, said she'd never done anything like that, and asked where she would need to get off the train.

It seems she is the mother of two children, two and three.  Said she wanted to tell her children someday about being at this Bernie rally. She was wearing a Bernie shirt she had made with the help of her children. Rodger suggested she buy a souvenir to remember the event. She said she didn't have enough money for that and just being at the rally would be enough.

As he rode along Rodger apparently thought back to the time when he was fourteen and his interest in politics was captured by a civics teacher. He began collecting political memorabilia and was very active in politics in college.

He left the train before the young woman so as he passed her he handed her $20 with instructions to donate that to the Bernie campaign by buying herself a souvenir.

I wonder about that young woman. Yes, she's a dreamer.  This part of the country is Bernieland. His speeches describe a world she likes.  Who will let her down gently and help her see that world will never be? Will Hillary be able to convince her she's a Democrat? Will she just fade away, disillusioned about politics? I wonder.

5 comments:

  1. That was pretty special, even if she wasn't dreaming your dream. I hope the young mother had a blast!

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  2. Oh, Linda, yes, I wonder too. I went to the Dem's legislative caucus yesterday. It was packed with "dreamers". The Bernie supporters have so much hope and energy and enthusiasm.
    And yet ... yes, your questions.

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  3. What a sweet son you have. I kind of envy the Bernie supporters their passion. I had that passion about Jack Kennedy who was the first president I was eligible to vote for. It has to be the youth for as we age, idealism is replaced a bit sadly with a functioning realism.

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  4. I will support either Democratic candidate.

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  5. Ah yes, the enthusiasm of youth. Appreciated your story and observations. Young people -- new voters and even older ones who should know better -- expect so much from the election of a President. I hope they recognize we must also focus on state's legislators we send to D.C. -- in fact, our state government figures and all the way down to city management if we truly want a political revolution. So much talk, but we need someone who has the experience and knows how to get things done.

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