Small steps

I thought I was going to add two separate posts today, but I realized when I typed in a title for this post that the two issues are related.

First, I am proud to say that I drove across D.C. again today, a new route this time. I went up to Tenleytown to the Whole Foods and Best Buy. This probably seems mundane, but if you know me at all, you might remember one year ago and my terror, and I am talking about real, one hundred percent TERROR, of driving in this city.

D and I moved to D.C. on July 18 of last year. We were doing fine on the drive in until there was a mix-up between 395N and 395S. We missed an exit-- or D, who was driving, passed the exit because I told him it was the wrong one.

It was the right one.

The next hour was not happy.

In D.C., and probably in other big cities, you can't often just turn around and go back the right way. It took awhile for us to figure out where we were supposed to go. It seems less traumatic now, but it was not a good introduction to driving here. Other issues compounded my driving-phobia. D.C. has this thing about signs-- for example, the sign for your exit is often AFTER the exit. And sometimes, lanes appear and disappear with no warning. Then there are the traffic circles.

So, it was literally about 5 months after we moved here that I drove to the grocery store in our neighborhood. I got used to that and felt a tiny bit braver. Next, in December, they were predicting an ice storm and I made an emergency trip to the SW to buy a trunkfull of wood so we wouldn't freeze to death. Last spring, I drove all the way to Georgetown-- not a huge feat since it basically involves one street. I've done that twice now. Today, I drove to Tenleytown, which is not that hard but did involve going through Dupont Circle as well as several other traffic circles, one of which had no clearly marked lanes.

All of this seems silly, almost, but it's important to me because I really was afraid of driving here only a year ago. Now I am truly not afraid. I can just do it-- I can think on the spot about the circles, I can quickchange lanes to get around buses, and if I can't turn left when I need to I can find an alternate street. It gives me hope that maybe I can get over other fears I have too. It's a small step.

Small steps relate to the other issue I wanted to post about. I wanted to follow up on Troy Davis, the man I wrote about last week. He was granted a 90 day stay of execution so that new evidence in his case can be reviewed.

If you'd like to take a small step to take action in this issue, visit http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapps/advocacy/index.aspx?c=jhKPIXPCIoE&b=2590179&template=x.ascx&action=8894. There, you can read more about what's going on and, if you like, send a pre-typed email asking that Davis' death sentence be commuted.

It sometimes seems futile to me to do things like send emails to a state I don't live in asking leaders there to help one man. I go down the path of "why bother." Why bother, when there's so much going on in the world that I can't change; why bother, when it's just one email; why bother, since we're all going to die anyway.

It's a dark path.

Why bother? Well, what else are we supposed to do? There's that overtold story about the boy throwing starfish back into the ocean-- a man sees the boy at the shoreline, surrounded by starfish, throwing them one at a time back into the sea. He tells the boy he'll never make a difference because there are so many starfish. They boy throws in another starfish and says, I made a difference to that one.

The story, corny as it may be, is overtold because it's true. On my drive today, I saw a man wearing a "Save Darfur" sandwich board. After thinking, "how much is that going to really help?" I thought, you know, maybe it's just all he can think of to do. And maybe it will get a few of us to do something about that situation.

So, today is riddled with questions: why bother?

And what small steps are you taking in your life?

Feel free as well to alert us to other issues about which we might take small steps.