Ahh, politics. What would we do without politics to divide families, relationships, and an entire human race?  Sure, that's a little bit of a cynical approach--I love politics...when it sparks discussion, compromise, improvement, and progress. I don't, unfortunately, believe that is where our nation is at right now. Politics is such a divisive thing in our world at the moment.

I was scrolling through social media last night and saw a post from Ada County Commissioner Diana Lachiondo. The post shared that during her son's 12th birthday, a group of protestors located her house and sat outside shouting at her.

This got me thinking...no matter who you vote for or what you believe in...is going to an elected officials home really moving the needle? 

Personally, I think not.

She wrote:

Last night, we celebrated my oldest son’s 12th birthday.

It was also the night that protesters came to our family’s home. There were only 12 of them. They were unmasked, congregated on the public sidewalk, and did a fair amount of shouting about tyranny, communism, and the need to remove me from office. They prayed that I would be released from Satan’s spell and see the error of my ways in requiring masks in public spaces.

I don’t personally know any of the protesters, but I trust that they are scared, and that they are struggling right now in their own way.

None of them know me as a human being (or know much about me at all, to be honest). They don’t know that I’m a parent who has been doing my level best to keep our children emotionally whole and that I’m a terrible math teacher. They don’t know that I’m married to a doctor who is seeing patients and risking exposure every day. They don’t know that I’m a daughter who desperately wants to keep her dad safe as his health fails in the middle of a pandemic.

They don’t know that I balance all of this while showing up every day to fulfill my duties as commissioner and public servant.

But I am not alone.

Just like nearly everyone in our community, I am juggling competing and difficult roles in the middle of extraordinary circumstances. And there is solace and beauty in that. Because, truly, we are not alone. The great struggles of humanity - birth, death, survival, sickness, heartbreak, and, yes, math homework - are universal and shared. We suffer great loss. We do hard things. We rise to the occasion. Or we don’t.

The protestors shouting accusations of “tyranny” and “communism” on my front lawn are missing some essential truths about what it means to be a member of a community and, on that score, my heart goes out to them.

This community is everything to me, and I will keep showing up for it, plain and simple. I will keep listening and learning and taking in every bit of information I can. I will keep making the tough calls that give us the best chance to stay healthy, safe, and made whole as swiftly as possible. And I will keep taking the heat when people don’t like those calls. It’s my job.

I will also not be intimidated.

When I was sworn in just a year and half ago, I never expected a global pandemic would so powerfully intersect with a seat on the Ada County Commission. But it did, and here we are, and I am grateful for the chance to show up for this community, no matter what.

I am proud to stand with and up for all of you. We are not alone, and we take care of one another. We will help one another in ways great and small, including the simple act of wearing a mask to slow the spread of a virus.

Thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for being a part of my community.

And Happy 12th Birthday to my good, brave, wonderful son. It’s not the birthday (or world) I would wish for you, but it’s the one we got, and I’m so grateful for that.

I'm politically active. I vote. I love it when my beliefs are challenged. But why crash someone's home? Write an email, a letter, or leave a voicemail. Submit a Letter To The Editor in your local publications.

Honestly curious-- is this acceptable?

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