{"id":576036,"date":"2026-02-08T21:43:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T21:43:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/576036\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T21:43:28","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T21:43:28","slug":"feeling-helpless-take-action-connect-vote","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/576036\/","title":{"rendered":"Feeling helpless? Take action, connect, vote"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIndependent Newsmedia\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

By Julie Skrzypek | Glendale<\/p>\n

OPINION \u2014 If you\u2019re feeling helpless amid American turmoil and division, you\u2019re not alone.<\/p>\n

I can whine and wallow, and where does that get me? I don\u2019t have sports expertise, but have watched enough football to learn a thing or two to elevate my optimism. Call me \u201cPollyanna,\u201d but I know it\u2019s time to change my attitude when it resembles \u201cNegative Nellie.\u201d\u00a0I suggest:<\/p>\n

Act.<\/strong> In the huddle, coach yells, \u201cDo something!\u201d Sounds vague, but it\u2019s the first step. Action leads to determination and a feeling that I am doing something to move the ball toward the goal. Writing this is action. Registering to vote is action. Encouraging others to register is, too. Arizona Clean Elections Commission, azcleanelections.gov<\/a>, makes it easy to discover your federal and state districts as well as your local precinct.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Connect<\/strong> with others who are concerned about our country. Talk to neighbors, friends and family. Join a group advocating for an issue or candidate that\u2019s important to you. Listen with an open mind to speakers and take a few notes. Invite others to events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Speak up!<\/strong>\u00a0Show respect to other humans.\u00a0During a recent rally, a driver yelled a bad word and waved the middle finger. I was restrained since any comeback would be wasted. Also, Pollyanna wouldn\u2019t cuss since that would detract from her message.<\/p>\n

I am grateful for high school students who recently marched.\u00a0I\u2019m glad they are experiencing democracy firsthand with action, connection and voice. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Coach wants to know if I\u2019m ready to play. \u201cYes, I have my playbook.\u201d I am in the Brewer Precinct, LD 27 and CD 8. I attend LD meetings and am volunteering with Deborah Howard\u2019s campaign.<\/p>\n

Football coach, Lou Holtz, once said, \u201cLife is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it.\u201d\u00a0I hope others respond positively. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Please submit comments at\u00a0yourvalley.net\/letters<\/a> or email them to AzOpinions@iniusa.org.\u00a0We are committed to publishing a wide variety of reader opinions, as long as they meet our\u00a0Civility Guidelines<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tturmoil,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t elections,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Arizona Clean Elections Commission,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t playbook,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t action,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Deborah Howard\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Independent Newsmedia By Julie Skrzypek | Glendale OPINION \u2014 If you\u2019re feeling helpless amid American turmoil and division,…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":576037,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5131],"tags":[11030,5229,5643,249999,1587,250000,90,1589,65936,60053,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-576036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-phoenix","tag-action","tag-america","tag-arizona","tag-arizona-clean-elections-commission","tag-az","tag-deborah-howard","tag-elections","tag-phoenix","tag-playbook","tag-turmoil","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116037196828817885","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=576036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576037"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}