The following is a speech I gave for the introduction to the announcement for Chris Fedalei, a democratic candidate for South Carolina Congress. Enjoy!
I think what I’m about to say to you will make more sense once I’ve explained a little bit about myself. In late 2000, I joined the Marine Corps infantry, where in the following years I would do two tours in Afghanistan, one to take and hold the Kandahar airport, the other to do the same for the embassy in Kabul several months later. I was a sergeant by the time I left. From there, I went to the University of South Carolina, paying little attention to the war I’d brought back with me. But given time, that war swallowed me up, defining me more than any of my previous successes and failures. It left me empty, except for anger and despair.
However, with patience and the right support, I am now honored to work for a nonprofit that helps my fellow veterans in their times of struggle. And I also volunteer at the Spartanburg County Detention Center, where I’ve been awarded the rare opportunity to watch inmates pour themselves into creative writing, often resulting in some of the most raw, passionate, and occasionally brilliant stories that have been brought to my attention. Also, and I can’t reinforce this enough, it is a privilege to stand before you now.
(pause)
To say that we live in dynamic times is an understatement fit for Shakespearean punchlines. Terrorism has invaded every facet of our perspective, of our daily lives. America is ranked 14th in worldwide education, our jails are bursting with victims of drug abuse and mandatory minimum sentences. Our government is steeped in bipartisan extremism so entrenched that bills concerning one topic are pregnant with other bills that counter the basic principles of the first. Our troops return from war with the expectation that they need to carry their burden by themselves. And all the while our world falls to its knees as temperatures rise.
And yet, through all of this tumult, through all of this fear and anger and despair and sometimes even hatred, there is one aspect of our American spirit that we all share; one fervent stance that shines through like a sunbeam through prison bars. And that thing is hope. Not simply hope that “things’ll get better.” Not simply hope in our government to lead, or in our friends to rise above or our neighbors to help us through. But hope in each and all of us. Hope in our fellow man, that we may see that same hope reflected back to us.
I’ve seen it in the eyes of veterans doubting themselves, in the eyes of inmates doing their best to put their mind to paper. The veterans don’t think anyone cares anymore. That the politicians use them as puppets, then cast them aside like a bad idea. And the inmates have come to terms with violence, drugs, and gangs as normal. That their cells will have four people, instead of the state mandated two, because criminal punishment is business, and business is good. They learn that they aren’t just criminals. They’re the “Bad Guys.” And so, over time, they become bad guys.
However, hope is strongest, at its most clear, in struggle. And make no mistake, struggle is intrinsic in our lives today. But hope shows there’s a better way. There will always be a solution, no matter how unlikely, if we but rise to achieve the goal that the world has put before us. We, as a people, can bring about change. But we have to follow the rules set forth, vote, and be heard, if we’re going to see it. And to ensure this happens, to ensure that we aren’t taken advantage of, we need a humble leader willing to take up our struggle, our hope. To shoulder the cause like those few and far between before him, who have the character to set the standard not simply through discussion, but by example.
Chris is one of those men, selflessly striving toward the betterment of those he sees as hurting. Not simply does he have hope in his fellow man, but rather he inspires it through action. Born into a family rich in military history, his birthright was a sense of duty toward improving the world around him. Toward fighting for those who’d found cold stares where there should have been sympathy and fortitude. Toward understanding instead of criticism. Hope, instead of derision. We are all that common man. We share that in one another. And it’s going to take all of us to change the course of history. Fortunately for us, we all have hope, and Chris, on our side.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is my profound pleasure to introduce your next congressman and my good friend, Chris Fedalei.