image by ladybugbkt

On the weekend of Sunday, December 14, the Obama transition team initiated over 4000 meetings all over the country for people to come together and think about how best to channel and direct the energy and intention generated during the campaign. In the preparatory phone call, the organizers had told us that according to the surveys filled out by volunteers and election campaign staff, 2/3 of the people involved want to keep volunteering—an impressive number. And they suggested that, instead of waiting for the inauguration, we should already commit to organizing a social service event locally on or before Martin Luther King Day to set a signal in our communities that change is indeed coming.

When I signed up to host the party, it took only two days for it to fill up, and on Sunday evening, 23 people from all kinds of backgrounds gathered in our living room. It was a buzz; everyone was bursting with energy. It didn’t even seem necessary to introduce ourselves—we were all there for one reason only and that was to keep moving forward on the wings of positivity and commitment that we had grown during the election campaign. We took a little while to establish our group’s priorities in relationship to policy we are particularly interested in—Climate Change/Energy Policy, Education, Healthcare and the Economy were the four major concerns, in this order. There was an extraordinary flow to the event—you might have expected all kinds of stumbling blocks speaking in a large group like this, but there weren’t any.

The most energy was in thinking about what we could do as a community service event on or before Martin Luther King Day. We were all impressed by the transition team’s thinking of ways to act right now. After some brainstorming, we decided on a food drive—the number of new people coming to food pantries in the Berkshires, a wealthy county in Massachusetts, was frightening. We will also hold a concert and auction of some extraordinary art from prisoners, who enthusiastically donated their best pieces when they heard about our efforts from their art teacher, a member of our group.

This is what is striking and the most important part of it all—the visible ripples this initiative is creating through all our networks and the recognition that no matter where we are and what our life circumstances, there is something to contribute. It gives the sense that in just about no time, just about everyone can be involved in working together.

On Thursday night, we had a follow-up meeting which again was seamless, carried by the common interest in getting things done and moving ahead. I cannot imagine a better spirit for heading into the New Year!