Door knocking. It's not just for politicians anymore.

So I went up to Naheedquarters tonight figuring I’d be delivering signs or something like I did last night. 

There’s going to be a big push to get signs out Saturday.  I’ve got my kids and Bow Valley Music Club so I’m just not going to be able to swing it this weekend.  Fair enough, I was planning to spend my evening tonight doing something for Team Nenshi and since I was there… 

So Stephen asks, “Wanna go door knocking?“ 

I clearly heard myself say, “No, absolutely not.  It’s positively not for me, and nothing I’d ever want to subject myself to.  I prefer my life as an anti-social troll and pretty much would be happy if all of humanity was swallowed by a black hole in the next three minutes to avoid doing something equivalent to that.“ 

Apparently it came out of my mouth as, “Sure, I’d love to.”

I had precisely three thoughts:

  1. I won’t be in my neighbourhood
  2. I thought of a person I know who said she’d vote for the first interested candidate to actually show up at her door, and
  3. I thought that I better stop off at home for a couple minutes and brush my teeth first. 

Okay, so I have a long street of houses to hit, that’s fine.  I go to the first one - they’re moving before the election.  I go to the second one.  He’s undecided, we chat.  I feel really uncomfortable and the opposite of “knows what I’m talking about” and.. err..  “smooth.“  And out it comes from him, “I want someone new that inspires people.”

Well, as a matter of fact, this is the first time I’ve been involved in a political campaign.  I’ve always voted, but I’ve never participated at this level.  And the conversation started to flow.

Look, I don’t give a rat’s ass who anyone else votes for.  I just want everyone to make an informed vote.  There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that I feel Naheed Nenshi has the very best platform.  He’s had his Better Ideas posted for weeks, and it’s something we can constructively talk about.  But that doesn’t mean you have to feel the same way.

I’ll be the first to stand up and say some of the other candidates have great ideas.  I’ll be the first to stand up and say other candidates have appealing traits and characteristics.  No one matches the ideas, the work ethic, the interest, the approachability or the integrity I get from Mr. Nenshi.  It isn’t even close.

Now, if you can stand with me and tell me why you support another candidate, I will be exceptionally happy and support you fully in your choice.  The only answers I consider unacceptable are, “She (or he) is the only one I know” or “She (or he) is the only one who can win.“  You know what, I’ve got some better ideas on the back of this here flier and maybe you oughtta be reading them if you’re feeding me that line.  Of course, I’m much more polite in person.  I’m also much taller and better looking than I appear here.

So the take home story of this tonight is an ugly one.  I can whinge and shout bravado and blab all I want on my blog here.  It’s not going to make a hill of beans.  I can also try to engage fellow citizens and encourage them to vote and get involved and that makes a real difference.  If you’re just on social media and you think it’s enough, it’s time to get outside of your comfort zone right now, because we are going to need every twitterer we can get.

Door knocking is tough - at least for me - and it’s a lot more time consuming than I ever imagined.  Just about every door I knocked upon was a conversation tonight.  I barely got anywhere - nothing like the map I picked up from Naheedquarters.  But I spent a lot of time sharing ideas and meeting some really nice people.  Easily two thirds tonight told me they were voting for certain.  I don’t care how they vote, if they all show up at the polls we will have made a difference.