What do we have to loose?
Originally published 7/1/2018
Have you heard of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?
Up until a few days ago, I had not and I think you should all get to know her especially with Fourth of July around the corner. I generally try to stir away from politics because I get so angry at the divisiveness and postering and lack of bipartisanship when all I want to say is ‘why can’t we all just get along?’
This is the opposite of my husband who cannot get enough of it. He wakes up to the news, drives to work listening to the news, comes home and turns it on and eventually goes to sleep with the news on. It’s CNN, FOX, MSNBC, BBC and whatever other alphabet station there is out there. He goes back and forth from one to the other. Thank goodness for the World Cup, this month, that has temporarily occupied him.
One morning he had the news on and as usual I was half listening but had to stop when I heard a young lady being interviewed by Mika Brzezinski of the Morning Joe show.
This is why I stopped. This young lady’s name is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. She is 28 years old and just beat out a 10 term incumbent to win the congressional primary race in New York. She did not catch my attention because of her politics. She had my attention because up until she ran she was an educator and a bartender. She won on the socialist platform of Medicare for all, tuition free public college education, gun control, criminal justice reform and housing as a human right. Again this is not about her politics. When asked why she ran for political office she said ‘what did we have to loose?’
So simple, so genius. This sentence stopped me in my tracks.
Put another way. You will never know until you try. How many of us go through life afraid to try? Afraid of failure? Afraid of what we may loose?
Don’t let fear stop you in your tracks and prevent you from being your best and reaching your full potential. This young lady may one day be president of the United States. Who knows? And I would not be surprised if that happens someday, with the drive and determination that I see in her. If her main concern in life was fear of loosing instead of ‘what do I have to loose?’ she would not be where she is right now, winner of a major congressional primary race and possibly on her way to Washington to do great things.
I think that this is a great lesson for all of us. We should never be afraid to put ourselves out there. We should remember that we have nothing to loose but everything to gain. We should all teach this to our kids as well. This is how change and progress happens. This is the beauty of this country. We all potentially have an opportunity to be whatever we want to be as long as we work hard towards it, believe in ourselves and not be afraid to try.
You want to write a novel? Get to it. You want to be an actor? Go and audition. You want to be an entrepreneur? Get on it. A politician? A chef? A doctor? A lawyer? A designer? An engineer? Do some research and learn the specifics and requirements of what you want to do. There may be prerequisites like more schooling or reading/learning or internships or apprenticeship. This young lady obviously did the background work of learning politics and policy and law and history.
The only thing to fear is fear itself and Just do it are some of my favorite quotes that apply here. Let’s learn from this future leader.
As always, thanks for reading and please don’t forget to leave a comment below.
J