The last thing I wanted to do last week was find a fight, but sometimes a necessary fight finds me.
I am not someone who generally responds to big flashy signs, traced in blood red, but this was a good usage for our local public transportation agency, because cutting certain bus lines will be written in the blood of seniors.
Literally, senior housing was planned around some of the bus lines that were on the chopping block, and in San Francisco, some of them would have been walking uphill four ways to the next bus.
I am not a senior, but I have been injured and spent significant portions of my life disabled ... and with this anemia being so severe I still dare not climb a high hill for a bus. I also deeply love my parents and community elders, all of whose lives would be severely impacted if certain lines were cut.
Not on my watch.
I did my research and the public response form, and then made my way to City Hall to speak up... here seen from the top of Buena Vista Hill... the silvery dome down in the distance is a much, much larger building than this view appears...
... a beautiful but imposing structure.
But I fear no one there, and have no trouble reminding any official: "You work for me, and the people, and if you do not represent us well, we will remove you, so if you want your position, do better."
Despite the state of national politics in the United States, it is not my intention to let anyone think they are dictators in San Francisco. If I lived in Washington D.C., I would be stepping up personally there too.
Other people only have the power we allow them.
It is not, nor will it ever be my practice, to allow anyone to harm the most vulnerable around me. No seniors will be walking uphill in all four cardinal directions anywhere I have something to say about it. About 250 other people showed up and demanded a better plan -- the plan was improved, and we are working to get it even better.
We have all the power we are given and willing to use.
That's the whole Monday thought. Find some good to do and use your power. You'll find that you have more than you think when you start using it, and maybe more people with you as well!
