Tonight, Hillary Clinton will take the stage in Philadelphia to officially accept the nomination for President of the United States. There are women at the convention this year who remember a time when women weren’t even allowed to vote. Hillary didn’t just shatter a glass ceiling; she has shifted a paradigm. She has expanded the realm of thinking in this country about who can hold the highest office in our government. She has given women and girls a new possibility. She has paved a new road toward opportunity. And for her strength and courage in doing so, I am deeply grateful and proud.
Category: President
Leap: My Open Letter to Governor Romney Regarding His Comments at a Florida Fundraiser
Below is my open letter to Governor Romney. If you’d like to watch the YouTube video of it that I quickly recorded from my home, please click here.
Dear Governor Romney,
Like every other American, I listened to your comments from the Florida fundraiser. I actually listened to them many times over because I was certain that I was hearing it wrong. While I don’t agree with your politics, I did believe that you were proud of this country and that you were someone who just wanted to do his part to make it even better. However, after listening to your comments about the American people, I realized I was mistaken. When you explained your disdain for 47% of Americans, I understood that you don’t want to help the people; you want to help those whom you deem as your people. And I am not one of them.
I grew up in a family of very few financial resources. We received certain forms of public assistance like enrollment in the free lunch program. We went without health insurance for many years. I went to college because of financial aid as my mother’s annual income was less than tuition at the school I wanted to attend (University of Pennsylvania.) I then went on to business school a number of years later at the Darden School at the University of Virginia, again with the grace of student loans, because I wanted to understand finance rather than be afraid of it.
Though I was someone who benefited from government programs, I didn’t do so because I felt entitled. I did so because I came from a family without financial means and to make this world a better place, I needed to get myself fed and educated. When I took government funds in the form of aid, I took on a tremendous responsibility to make something of myself and to bring others along with me who needed help. As I rose, I bent down, extended my hand, and helped others to rise, too.
In my career, I have worked in government, Broadway theatre management, education, nonprofit fundraising, retail management, financial services, and health and wellness. Today, I own my own consulting business and founded a nonprofit to bring the healing benefits of yoga and meditation to those in need. As an adult, I no longer receive government assistance and in fact pay taxes in the highest tax bracket, which I believe is a far higher percentage than you pay. Just because I needed financial help from the government when I was younger does not mean that I grew up to be an adult who is in your words, a “freeloader”. Because I was helped, I feel an incredibly strong need to help others, like me and far different from me.
And finally, I have a few words to say about the social justice issues you addressed in your comments. I do believe that every American has a right to healthcare, has a right to eat, and a right to be educated. I’m not sure if you are aware of this, but America has been advocating for this stance around the world since its founding. We have gone to the battlefield for these kinds of basic human rights; we have lost many good men and women for this ideal because we understand that no one is free if they’re hungry, sick, and uneducated.
I did have compassion for you upon hearing your initial comments. “Perhaps they were taken out of context,” I thought. “Maybe he was surprised and under tremendous pressure in the moment.” Then I heard your reaction to your comments, and I hung my head low because I realized I don’t have a place in your America.
Still, I do understand why it’s so hard for someone of your means to have empathy for people like me and so many other Americans. It’s hard to explain to someone what it feels like to not have enough food to eat, to be without electricity for weeks at a time because your family couldn’t afford to pay the bill, to be constantly worried that your home would go into foreclosure. You begin to think that because you don’t have enough, then you aren’t enough. It’s a fear that gets in your bones and never leaves. Even now, I am incredibly thrifty with my money. I no longer have to price check different brands of soup at the supermarket, but I do and I’m sure I will always continue to do so.
My past, the good, the bad, and the ugly, is part of who I am, and that includes the fact that I received a lot of help from the government while I was growing up. And I am grateful for it. Governor Romney, please don’t see us as a liability; instead see us as opportunity that needs a little bit of help to take root. We are a long-term bet, but we are worthy of your attention.
Sincerely yours,
Christa Avampato
Leap: The Democratic National Convention Fired Me Up!
After watching the speeches of the Democratic National Convention, I am fired up even more than I was in 2008. Last night after President Obama’s speech, I opened my wallet, which I do only after intense consideration, to make the largest political contribution I’ve ever made. Then I opened my calendar, which I guard even more closely than my wallet, to give my time and talent to move us forward as a volunteer for the campaign. I can’t spend these next two months before the election just observing and commenting. I am making the time to act.
No matter what your political persuasions, the Democratic National Convention did exactly what it was supposed to do – it motivated people to do something. To talk about the issues, to stand up for what they believe in, to start creating the lives they want to live rather than listing the myriad of reasons of why their lives are less than they want them to be.
Now is the time – take a stand and do something about it. What kind of country do you want to live in and what are you doing to create it?
To volunteer your time to this Presidential election:
Obama – Biden
Romney – Ryan
To donate to the campaigns:
Obama – Biden
Romney – Ryan
Beginning: Our Role in the Economic Recovery
In DC, I was struck by how much wider the street blocks are in comparison to NYC. In New York, we always feel like we’re moving quickly because it’s easy to see progress in our movements. DC has more space and so it feels like a slow march to our destination.
As we have watched the antics play out in Washington in the past month, I couldn’t help but link the seemingly too slow progress on the Hill to the too slow progress I felt as I traversed the city on foot. I pride myself on having a quick New Yorker step. In DC, my progress was slow and steady no matter how quickly I put one foot in front of the other. It felt like I covered so much more ground with so much more effort in DC than I ever do in New York.
And maybe that’s the trick. I know you’re frustrated by Washington politics. I am, too, and I really do believe that the majority of politicians on both sides of the aisle are also frustrated. As I stood in front of that great Capitol Dome, I couldn’t help but feel a very strong sense of responsibility. The awesomeness of its size and detail is overwhelming, but small in comparison to the decisions that are being made inside.
Our government housed in that Dome is an enormous, gangly beast. To tame and then reform it is quite possibly the most complicated task in the world. It takes time, patience, and commitment. There is no slam dunk answer to any problem facing government today. There is no silver bullet despite the clever sound bites being thrown around by those jockeying for a more powerful position. It is a long, multi-term slog. We will take steps forward and back in an unpredictable dance because we are so intricately intertwined with our global neighbors. The butterfly effect is more potent than ever, and it is inescapable.
It would be easy to throw our hands up and buy into the propaganda being highlighted in every major and minor media outlet. It would be so (temporarily) comforting to pin all our hopes on a political messiah who claims he or she can wave some magic Washington wand and sprinkle the glitter of prosperity across our stubbornly depressed economy. That is the stuff of fairy tales.
Recovery will take many small and courageous acts by ordinary folks like you and me. We vote every day with our purchases, large and small, as much as we do at our polling stations on election day. We decide to go to work or look for a new job. We show up and do our best, or we don’t. We decide to work hard or slack off. We decide to innovate or phone it in, on every level of our lives. We decide to be numb or be present. We are teaching everyone around us in every moment through our words and actions. Those are the choices that will create lasting and fruitful change or continue to send us down in a potentially fatal spiral. These small opportunities for choice are so embedded into the fabric of our lives that we sometimes don’t even realize we’re making them. We forget how much impact and power we really have.
I turned these thoughts over and over in my mind as I made my way up to meet friends in Northwest DC for dinner and drinks. Visiting our nation’s capitol, my former home and maybe one day home again, reminded me of the incredible responsibility that rests with all of us. If we are going to truly reap the benefits of a free nation and free markets, then we cannot turn our backs in frustration when it so desperately needs our attention. Keep tuning in. Keep asking questions, searching for solutions, and raising possibilities. It’s a big ship, and we will all need to work together to turn it around.
Why I vote
I had dinner over the weekend with a friend of mine who said that the person who is elected the next President of the United States will not be able to do anything to help our problems. He thinks we’re too far in trouble to be helped. In fairness, this friend is infamous for stating his opinion as fact (borrowing a phrase from my pal, Kelly) and he’s not American. He’s also facing a lay-off by his company that will likely send him back to his home country. He’s understandably angry and disappointed. And he doesn’t understand what it means to be an American. He doesn’t appreciate or understand how every vote by every citizen in this country makes a difference.
I was a little miffed by my friend, the defeatist, though it has had me thinking very hard about why I vote and why I encourage others to vote. Right now, at this very moment, at every moment, people around the world are fighting for the right to vote. And I understand that passion but that’s not why I vote. Our economy is in shambles and our foreign relations are at an all-time low. I understand that we are in dire straights. But that’s not why I’m getting up at 5:30am and running to the polls tomorrow.
There were federal policies in place in the 1990’s that helped me put myself through college. Without them, I could never have become a college graduate, much less a graduate of a top academic institution. And as hard as Penn was for me, both personally and academically, my 4 tough years there changed my life. They opened up an entire world to me that I never knew existed. My future is shaped every day by what I learned and the people I met in that small area of West Philadelphia. And I had the great privilege of being there because people went to the polls on election day to put someone in the Oval Office who understood that equal access to education, regardless of socio-economic level, is critical to the future of this nation. Those voters and the policies they helped to put in place gave me a shot at a better life.
I vote to return the favor for so many people in this country who need my voice now more than ever. And they need your voice, too. Please vote. If you need to find your polling location, please visit http://www.voteforchange.com.
Christa Avampato 