The Great Recession Skate 2009
On Sunday August 9th, 2009, I will set out on a new adventure. Politics and skating will converge into a single mission as I skate across America from San Diego, California to Washington D.C. 2800 miles away, seeking an audience with the President of the United States, Barack Obama.
Along the way I will be interviewing Americans about their concerns in The Great Recession of 2009. I will ask the citizens of this great land what government means to them, what its role should be, and, what they want to see from it in the future.
I will also write about what I personally want to see from our government. I will describe my thoughts on bailouts, entitlements, failure, and, success.
Today we stand at a crossroads. People across the nation that have never held a sign of protest before are taking to the streets. The masses are just the tip of the iceberg in the conservative movement. I am one of those reluctant protestors. It is because of my sense of responsibility that I engage in this endeavor.
I, being just an average faulty human being, am gifted in the respect that I was fortunate enough to be born a citizen of these United States of America. That gift, I have come to understand, comes with so many precious freedoms that a certain amount of responsibility is mandatory. It is our duty to take an active role in government, no matter how that role is defined.
I have been told, by many of my Liberal friends that, “the American people have spoken”, but, they are still speaking. Situations are changing every single day. Priorities shift as the realities of our great land require. It is this ever changing voice that I am in search of. I also seek the voices of the often overlooked small towns that I was fortunate enough to skate through last year on my first Trans-USA journey.
Prior to this year, I wouldn’t have thought to engage in political activism. I struggled to end the destructive cycles that plagued me from childhood and continued to influence my decisions on into adulthood. Abuse, violence, alcohol, drugs, and, broken family structures eventually resulted in my being a ward of the court of the State of Texas by the age of 15. Eventual gang membership continued the trend of “being a statistic”. I was on a dead-end path of self destruction.
In short, I know how to do the wrong thing. I learned the personal costs that come from those decisions. I learned because of and despite my failures. It is from that series of hard lessons that life taught me, that I developed the value system that I have today. It is easy to tell someone what is right and wrong. It is far harder to learn for yourself.
My saving grace came in the form of inline skating. I have been head over heels for it
ever since I first put a pair on. Through my skating, I learned that the hard road is most
often the right road. Short-cuts came to represent skipped steps and missed opportunities.
Self-discipline and competition in the skating world gave me the personal strength I
needed to better myself.
My and my wife’s dear friend Natalie referred to the political scene and pointed out that many just don’t feel as if they know enough to comment, or, they don’t care, because, no one has asked them before.
I think it can be read a little further to point out that many think they don’t have the right to speak out. That is the category that I belonged in. I didn’t think that I deserved to speak out because I made so many mistakes on the road of life. I resigned myself to being a voter at best, and, no more than that.
Now, I realize that my one voice is the same type of voice that millions of Americans have. We are not perfect. We are human to the nth degree, but, we are also citizens of the United States of America. Each and every single citizen deserves to have his or her voice reflected in the halls of Congress. It is our birthright, no matter what.
I will be Tweeting my progress as I go at www.twitter.com/d_dannels. I will post regular updates and pictures there. I may not get to respond to all of my replies, but, know that I will read all of them.
I will also keep a blog at http://dannydannels.wordpress.com. There I will write about the people that I meet and their opinions. I will also write about who I am, how the recession is affecting me, and, my family. It will be updated on an irregular basis.
It will be a hard journey, and, I admit that I will need your help along the way. The best and easiest way to help is to follow my journey. You can talk about what I am doing with your friends and family. Tweet about my journey on twitter. Call your local news, congress person, and, papers to tell them about my progress. If you care to donate to our expenses, that will be honored beyond words. No amount will be too small. We will accept those at: danny.dannels@gmail.com through Paypal.
In my eyes, Left and Right, Republican and Democrat, Liberal and Conservative, are just labels. We are all Americans. Our gift is our freedom. The price we pay is responsibility. I am willing to pay the price for my freedoms with the blood, sweat, and, tears that skating across this nation will require, as I seek out those that care about our future. I hope that I bring the great stories of the proud Americans that are out there. I also hope that I influence people to stand up for their beliefs, no matter what they might be.
