Running

A lifelong friend filed the required papers last week to run for the position of Chairman of the  County Council here in Volusia County.  We went to high school together, swam on the swim team, worked as beach lifeguards on Daytona Beach – did a lot of stuff together in those days.  He moved on to college, I went to work, and we pursued our own lives and careers, but he and I both shared that time so many years ago, and it stayed with us.  Seven or eight years ago, our paths crossed again, and we caught up with each other.

Running for office is something that many of the “over fifty” crowd sometimes think about doing.  We have lived our lives and our careers, raised the kids, and in the process developed an opinion or two about how things should happen.  Some decide that it is time to put some of those opinions into action.

At age seventy-six, my own mother called me to inform me that she had decided to run for Mayor in her little town nearby, the City of Lake Helen.  My first question – “Can I talk you out of it?”  The obvious answer was, “No.”  Okay, then, what can I do to help.  She campaigned on a platform of open honesty and plain talk in a time before that approach was politically acceptable, and won the election by a handful of votes over the incumbent.  Joan Duffy became the Mayor and set about to change her world.

Now Jeff Brower of DeLeon Springs is running to become the next Chairman of the Volusia County Council.  Jeff is an honest family man who has been outspoken about the political climate in the county, and now he has stepped forward to throw in and do something about it.

I wish him the best of luck in the election, and if elected, the best of times trying to change those things that he feels need changing.

Those who step up to volunteer in organizations, run for office, work to give back to the community – all heroes in our land.  There are many reasons NOT to get involved, but there are plenty of reasons to jump in with both feet.

My mom jumped in and Jeff is on the diving board.  Maybe it’s your turn?