Thank you to Kaitlin Vinterun, the Executive Director for League of Our Own Washington, for contributing this post.

It is human nature to seek what is comfortable. We feel safe, happy, and confident in our comfort zones. It is no surprise then, as politics become more and more polarizing, our instinct is to pull back. Well-adjusted, rational people don’t crave the vitriol and divisiveness that we’ve come to associate with politics (for good reason). The truth is, however, that the repulsiveness of politics is directly correlated to the need for well-adjusted, rational people to get involved and stay involved. There are people who are fueled by vitriol and divisiveness and they aren’t going anywhere. They are happy to wait you out so they can be in charge.

Consider this personal, non-political example: My husband and I are licensed foster parents and we frequently lament the state of the foster system. It is a system that is woefully short of both state workers and foster families. It is a tangled bureaucracy that often implements strict nonsensical rules in some areas and loose rules in other areas that directly affects the well-being of children. Meanwhile, the short and precious childhoods of countless children are crushed under the weight of a broken system. It would be a lot easier for my husband and I to go back to our lives as they were before we became foster parents. We could just let our license lapse. We would be less frustrated, heartbroken less often, and we’d have more free time. But the reality is that the worse the system is, the more they need parents who know how bad it is and choose to stay anyway. Vulnerable children need foster families who are willing to deal with the system because they know the importance of the mission outweighs the pains of the system. The same is true with politics.

Attend school board and city council meetings, meet with your legislators to discuss issues that are close to your heart, volunteer for candidates that share your values, and, speaking of stepping outside of comfort zones– run for office! It is in the midst of the most uncomfortable and trying circumstances that we are presented with the greatest opportunities to effect change. Let’s start today.