Perspective is key.

YES! People say: I can’t afford not to go to work, I can only protest on weekends, Washington is far from my house. I understand. It’s all about perspective.

Anecdote: When I was 16 years old I was hit by a car. It was a serious accident and I broke many limbs. One of the leg fractures got infected and the hospital I was treated at, was not quite sure how to solve this problem. They ended up declaring me ‘good to go’ after 10 months. At this point I had turned 17, I had been in a wheel chair for most of that time and I was eager to have an active social life. I downplayed the pain in my leg and I humped along on crutches and smiled, even though I knew that the wound on my leg should have healed by this time.

I ended up going to a different hospital for a second opinion, on a Friday afternoon. I still remember the look on the orthopaedic surgeons’s faces and their deep sighs, when they saw my leg:

“Would you be able to come back, Monday morning, on an empty stomach, ready for surgery?” the most senior of the doctors asked.

Being 17 and feeling starved of all the things that feel important to someone that age, I failed to see the urgency and started talking about the plans I had for my immediate future.

He looked into my eyes, over the rim of his glasses and I stopped talking. When he asked “would you like to keep both your legs?” my perspective had already changed. I understood that the only immediate plans I had for the future, was the mission of saving my leg. There were many surgeries and a lot of healing to do in the following years, but I have two strong legs today, thirty years later.

My question to the American people is: “Would you like to keep your country?”