1. Elizabeth Warren
Failure, disappointment, and lose are a feature in life, not a flaw.
The real test of character is how one responds to these difficult times in life. It's okay to be sad. It's easy to draw back and do less, and it's extraordinary to stay engaged and find a new way to be effective in the work.
I'll never forget where I was and how it felt Senator Elizabeth Warren suspended her candidacy for President. I knew it was coming. The votes weren't there, and the math simply wasn't adding up. I held out hope, but it happened, and I was so sad. It felt similar to how I felt when Secretary Clinton lost the Presidential election. Both Warren and Clinton were highly qualified and ran a good campaign.
There are many reasons both candidates didn't win; one significant reason was that the system is sexist, and neither of them had an even playing field. Both were victims of some of the darkest and most disturbing sexist jokes and commentary. It shakes me to the core when to think about the words used to describe these two extraordinary Americans.
I knew that I would support another candidate, but I didn't know how to because this was all new to me. I had never been this involved in a political election in my entire life. And it felt good to follow the primaries and to support Senator Warren. It felt necessary, it felt empowering, and it felt like an act of love.
My wife, Diana, got more involved in the election earlier in the process. When it became clear Senator Warren was Diana's pick, I wanted to support Diana. Yes, I also like Warren independent of Diana, but the fact that Diana felt so strongly about her made me feel even more committed to the cause. I thought early in 2020 that if we were truly going to affect change and make a difference for the women in our lives, that maybe we should show support to these women by supporting their candidates.
The main reason why I felt so strongly for Warren was because of how she inspired Diana. The trump presidency was so full of pain and disappointment. I could see the trauma and hurt in Diana's eyes when he would do horrible things on almost a weekly basis. I hate what he did to our country, and I had what he did to our people, and I hate how he made my wife feel. And Elizabeth Warren was the counter to that. Diana's eyes lit up when she read about her, listened to her speeches, and the best kind of tears would come when Diana would talk about her late at night after the kids were asleep.
Diana felt empower that she went door-to-door canvassing for Warren. She took little Lucas, only a couple of months old, and did what I wasn't brave enough to do.
In parallel, I saw Warren and my wife move on from disappointment after Warren suspended her election. Warren went on to do essential transformative work that significantly contributed to progressive causes and President Biden's victory. She didn't slow down at all. She stayed fully engaged and kept on fighting, and so did Diana.
I'll never forget Diana writing postcards to encourage people to vote late at night at our kitchen table. I thought to myself that Elizabeth Warren is probably sitting just like Diana at that very moment, tired from a full day of work...not giving up.
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