Dear ones, when I was in my little crisis of meaning, I thought: I need something for joy, something meaningful and something that I can change and contribute to. I subsequently founded a choir, trained as a family bereavement counsellor and emergency counsellor and joined a political party. Now the local elections in NRW are tomorrow and my first election campaign is behind me.
My first election campaign
I can say: it was a wild ride. With many moments of surprise, with questioning from time to time and with the great conviction that it is important that middle-aged women should also be heard and have a say in decision-making. For many, this is not possible because they are still in the midst of child madness; my first moved out this week, so young motherhood can also provide early freedom.
It hasn’t always been a walk in the park, sometimes emotions run high when the 18th flyer is still riddled with errors, sometimes you just want to stay in bed on a Saturday morning rather than stand in the rain at a supermarket to volunteer for your own little town.
On other days, we are inspired because the poll results are better than expected or because we have once again experienced so much team love. I’ve brought you a few points from my first election campaign that might give you a little insight into local political engagement.
By the way, I’m not mentioning the party here because I simply don’t want to convince or influence anyone. Everyone who stands for diversity and human democratic values should feel comfortable here, all these forces should stick together in times like these so that something foul-mouthed and contemptuous doesn’t take power in the near future. THAT is what I want for my children and possibly grandchildren. So here are my learnings from the last few weeks:
It only works as a team
You spend a lot of time with the people in your party, so they have to be really nice for it to be fun and they also have to be motivated and keen to master such a wild ride together. You really need to be able to laugh together and… mutual appreciation is essential.
Election campaigning makes you lonely
In times of elections, you hardly have any time for family and friends, you are always in broadcast mode, always making statements, never weak. You’re under constant scrutiny, sometimes being approached by people in the supermarket while you’re shopping dreamily. You always try to remain sympathetic, listen and show understanding. I don’t find that difficult, but it also drains the battery in the long run.
The anger of the citizens
„Have a nice weekend“, we shout after the person who is passing our stand and he murmurs „Not us“ in our direction. I’m not used to this in my real life, here in the country we even greet strangers on the street. That’s quite something. And that was just a harmless incident.
We have to live with responses like that when we hand out balloons or jelly babies outside the supermarket with our flyers. But people seem to forget that we are all doing this as volunteers to work for a better future. Unfortunately, it is common practice in this country to blame politically active people for all the misfortune in the world and to unload anger on them.
So there are also unpleasant and even threatening situations: someone doesn’t say hello, stands in front of our stand, turns his back to us, pulls the fabric out of his trouser pockets and has his photo taken with us. One place further on, a woman spills butyric acid at the campaign stand and the parliamentary group offices are attacked. It makes you feel different.
Door-to-door flyer distribution with daughter and niece
I find out how hard it is for postmen to find letterboxes when I distribute my flyers during the door-to-door election campaign! The children were kind enough to staple little bags of jelly babies to them as a mini treat for everyday life. And my daughter and niece joined me on a big walk, where we were amazed at how long the distances between neighbours in Bergisch can be and how many different letterbox designs there are! Here, by the way: only friendly people wishing me good luck!
Nice people
Some people bring us sweets or coffee to the stand, one says: „I may not vote for you, but I think it’s great that you’re standing up for our town“. So sweet. At the door-to-door campaign, someone offers us a few glasses of water because it’s so hot, that’s just touching and great.
Always on duty
Since there are also posters with me on them around town, I get asked about them everywhere, at parties in the evening, at lunchtime in the supermarket, it’s always about politics, even though you might want to talk about something else after a long day. I’ll remember that for next time, that it’s okay to set yourself apart and ask for a change of subject 😉
With each other, not against each other
At the city festival, we stood together under one roof with all parties that respect basic democratic values to show unity. I performed with my choir at another party’s festival and have been dueling with some of them ever since. Our motto is not: The others are doing everything wrong, but rather: The main thing is that we don’t drift in a direction that we don’t want for our children, please with respect and never anti-democratic. Thank you for so much fairness in this election campaign!
There’s always more
Have a look here at the city festival, talk to people at front doors, shoot a video with the mayoral candidate here, write a letter to the first-time voters there, set up an election stand there… you have to make sure that you keep your limits well, because of course there is always more to do. but there can also be breaks, we are only human.
Just give it a try
Sometimes you ask yourself why you’re doing all this, but on the other hand I think: we need a lot more mothers in politics who know what (dis)compatibility means, who know what women in midlife also need and then I think to myself: at least give it a try. Maybe it’ll only be one term of office, maybe more, but without knowing what it’s really like to be involved in decisions, I can’t say whether it’s for me or not. So go ahead and take a chance.
I’ll be sure to take you on this wild ride here and there. But now it’s time to keep our fingers crossed that the results are such that we can have a say in the decision. You’re going to vote, right? Every vote counts! And politics always means finding compromises. For many people, there isn’t THE party that they agree with 100 per cent. So just vote for the party that you are least opposed to.
I’m counting on you and wish everyone a great election Sunday. Personally, I’ve already voted by post and hopefully, after a ride out, I’ll relax and head to the joint election party to watch the results being tallied at 6pm…
