Post-Election Thoughts...
As the head cry-baby at the snowflake factory, you may assume I've spent this week drying my tears with a Patagonia fleece and threatening to move to Canada.
I'll have you know: it's not cold enough for fleece yet, I'm still in a Patagonia wind breaker that isn't particular absorbent.
But I've never said something like, "F*ck it, I'm moving to Canada."
I'm just not a take my ball and go home type. Or, to put it another way, an "the election was stolen!" type.
Check this out:
Yup, there's a funeral home in the middle! So I could go, start-to-finish, in a 0.9 mile stretch of Des Moines' East Side. I don't know if that's an accomplishment, but the anecdote would certainly be a great ice breaker at my funeral.
When I was born, the building I'm sitting in now was just an empty parking lot.
When I moved back to Des Moines in 2005, I opened RAYGUN a block away from here because this site was still a parking lot!
This building was built and became RAYGUN HQ in 2015. It only exists because the vision I had for a store was assisted by support from the community around me -- supporters, customers, employees, developers, etc.
Is there something sad about having never left Des Moines?
Not to me!
My 3rd Grade teacher can come into the store and tell me how proud of me she is (she's probably reading this blog, hey Mrs Merical!). Hard to top that feeling!
I view RAYGUN as a debt payment to the community I grew up again. I'm aware of all those who came before me, and my place in the chain. Carrying water for the generations that will come after.
Whenever we open a new store in a new location, we aim to be a positive contribution to that city.
We don't want to contribute to urban sprawl. We want to fill into existing neighborhoods with a history. We want to be a part of the fabric of other businesses and community members.
With Trump's second election victory, I feel like I'm skipping right over "resistance" and landing on CONSTRUCTION.
I think there is a general malaise that comes partly from our detachment with physical communities and over-connection to online communities.
It's not just politics. It can be social. It can be work.
A lot of people are looking for ways out of this malaise, and out of this loneliness.
Personally, I think the biggest off-ramp is reconnection to the people around us.
We want to look for ways to engage MORE with the community.
Meet more people and encourage connections.
It's the way our company is set up, but what we want to do even more of:
- in-person retail in walkable neighborhoods;
- events of all kinds in stores;
- humorous product;
- a respectful work environment;
We want to celebrate what our individual communities have and encourage public support for them:
- strong public schools;
- community events;
- local sports teams!
Obviously, the list goes on, but, yeah, sports! Look how happy they can make people:
Just get out there and visit a coffee shop!
Talk to other people.
Talk to strangers.
And where to put your energy? Why not put it into the community!
On the right and left, there is a frustration that can cause some people to want to withdraw.
I worry about things like school voucher programs because I think it starts to break up community schools, the bedrock of American society.
I think that will lead to more fracturing, and more divineness.
Now, sure, some people who voted for Trump are actual Nazis...
Exclusion and segmentation is a path to power for some people, but I don't think it's a viable path forward for society as a whole.
We'll keep persisting. We'll keep building. We'll keep make community connections and looking for ways to help major community connectors, like public schools.
The race is long, but, personally, I'll be in it until I'm fully-deceased and laying in Hamilton's Funeral Home at East 6th and Des Moines Street!