Here's the text of my letter published today in the Winston-Salem Journal:

A higher common ground

Cal Thomas in his Feb. 10 column “Christian film gets shabby treatment in Hollywood”
noted that the film “Alone Yet Not Alone” gives a “message about God not abandoning people in distress.” He continues, “Does the secular left fear such a film might lead some people to rely on a power higher than the federal government?”

The Feb. 9 Moral March on Raleigh brought together what USA Today estimated as 80,000 to 100,000 people. While there, I saw thousands of clergy and congregants from across the religious spectrum, secular and religious humanists, and social action group members who, because of their faiths, want our state government to not abandon people in distress.

Where Cal Thomas sees division, I see a higher common ground arising from the moral imperatives reflected by religious teachings and by political and economic philosophies. Do we not agree that society should enable all people to maximize their inherent potential while providing a safety net for those in distress? By agreeing on the moral imperatives, we can come together to find solutions based not on ideology or party, but on what works in practice. As a mediator, I have witnessed how agreeing on goals instead of wrangling over methods often leads to better, previously unthought-of solutions.

JOHN K. MOTSINGER SR., Walkertown

I just heard a piece on NPR about using haiku for commercial purposes, The following is not a haiku, but it popped into my head while listening to the story.

In a fight?
Fix it right.
Mediate.

Hey mediators out there. You are free to use the ditty with full attribution and link back here. Yes, this is subject to common law copyright 2013.

370 Days

That's right. I last wrote a blog post 370 days ago. In the meantime, I had a stroke on May 15, 2012, one week after primary election day here in North Carolina. The neurosurgeon released me after a couple of months, recovered.

The year flew by, as I worked as Legal and Compliance Director and Treasurer of Elisabeth Motsinger for Congress. Along with our great and diligent bookkeeper, Kathy Milby, we are finishing the regulatory paperwork and closing up the office.  The campaign was a truly remarkable experience, although it consumed us day and night for 14 months. We kept it clean, did very well in a heavily GOP district against an entrenched representative, and made a great number of new friends.  To us, it was a win!

Back to the real world now. Now I can say "yes" to clients who are looking for a better way to resolve life situations such as arranging how to care for elder family members or how to end a marriage without devastating court fights over kids, property and money.  You know, handling the situations as rational, caring adults.

There's still much to do and I must get back to it to meet our January 31 deadline. So this one ends, but I'll have a new post "directly," as my grandmother used to say. As my stalwart Kathy says, "Bye, now!"

Tired? Need motivation to go the distance? NPR can help.

SOURCE: NPR.org 

    

    The holidays are behind us. The Elisabeth Motsinger for Congress campaign has swallowed up my time. I have gone days between workouts and long runs seem a thing of the past. (Actually they aren't, Just fewer and farther between.) To keep up my energy, however, I find it necessary to get out a few times each week to the gym or to run around Salem Lake.
    NPR has made getting and maintaining momentum a little easier. So I have shared below some links that inspire me to keep going when the going gets tough. Check out the stories, video and music below and see if it might help you, too. jkm

Music can help you in going the distance. NPR story tells why music helps and listeners submit suggestions for the NPR Ultimate Workout Mix.   
Read and listen. 
What Makes Newton-John Get 'Physical' At The Gym?  

Listen to and read the whole story from NPR

Or just watch the Olivia Newton-John's video without the story and other suggested music.

And keep it going with The Ultimate NPR Workout Mix

Listen to the Mix Streaming

Read the story and see the playlist

On being unprepared for the long run

A TRAINING DAY FROM THE OTHER PLACE

          It was March. I was halfway through my training to run some marathon or other that coming May. I had set out to run part of the course that morning, As I approached where the start would be, I saw a crowd of hundreds of runners. My panic rose as I realized the event was today--in March--not two months off on the same date in May. I had to run unprepared. Grabbing my number from the table and pinning it on as the starting gun went off, I tried in vain to explain the situation . . . .

          I snapped awake. The "unprepared" nightmare again. Another time I had been unprepared for a trial I had suddenly learned was scheduled for later in the morning.

THEN THE DREAM COMES TRUE

          This morning I was parking the car outside Krankies coffee house in Winston-Salem when my cell phone rang. I answered, the voice asked "Who is this? I was trying to reach Elisabeth Motsinger. This is Travis Fain from the Winston-Salem Journal and I heard she is running for Congress."

          Panic time. I did not even pinch myself to test for wakefulness. I told the reporter he had reached my cell phone, but that I would I would give Elisabeth the message as soon as I saw her.

          I then went on into Krankies to the meeting with Elisabeth and campaign manager Carissa Joines to continue preparing for the official announcement and media conference intended for January 17, yet a week away. Our web site was not ready, just a placeholder page. We had no Facebook or Twitter pages. I had just that morning put the (almost) finishing touches on an ActBlue secure donation page. Clearly we were not ready to go public--but the beans had been spilled as the cat had sprung forth from the bean bag.

 FROM PANIC TO ACTION

          After a quick synchronized panic attack, we regrouped. Elisabeth called back Travis Fain, introduced him to campaign manager Carissa Joines, and I followed with more information. Apparently, Jerry Williamson, a blogger from Watauga County had somehow discovered that we had filed to get a candidate number from the Federal Election Commission. He published the finding in WataugaWatch this morning. Fain picked up the story from the blog, confirmed it with us and published it on the Journalnow Facebook page a few hours later.


THE SUPPORT ROLLS IN

         Within a couple of hours, Carissa, Elisabeth and I had gotten the basics together, all the while answering phone calls from friends and supporters of Elisabeth as a two-term school board member. The news was going viral, shared on Facebook and elsewhere by dozens of individuals. By 10:00 in the evening, the online donation page recorded 11 separate donations. Elisabeth received messages from across the district from numerous people wanting to throw fundraiser and "meet the candidate" events in their communities.

          Clearly, Elisabeth has enjoyed a strong groundswell of support from across the 5th District and the state for her campaign to win the seat now held by conservative Republican Virginia Foxx. After the panic, the reality has set in: Elisabeth can win the primary and, if anyone can, Elisabeth's supporters can and will turn the 5th District from red to blue in November. But to go the distance, we must go from a quartet of planners to a much larger volunteer force and do it quickly.

         If you have some time to invest in a better tomorrow for the 5th District, some space to donate or rent, or can support Elisabeth in other ways, please contact us at connect@nc5th.us. Due to the large outpouring of interest, it may take us awhile to get back in touch. But in touch we will be, because Elisabeth knows the seat belongs to you, the real people of the 5th District, not to any officeholder or big corporate special interest, not to any pollster or any party.

-- John Motsinger

DISCLOSURE: I am currently Legal and Compliance Director/Acting Treasurer of the committee Elisabeth Motsinger for Congress. Contributions and gifts to Elisabeth Motsinger for Congress are not tax deductible. This blog post was my own and not authorized by the candidate.

After going the distance . . . find "liberty and justice for all."

Finally went the distance.

Saturday, December 24, 2011

The past: Kiawah

     The big day came and went two weeks ago. After running and raising funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for four months, members of the Triad's Team in Training group successfully ran and walked their full and half marathons! We collectively raised over $35,000. We each ran hundreds of miles, suffered aches, pains, cold mornings, rain. But we did it.

          My wife and honored hero, Elisabeth, and I awoke that Saturday morning at about 6:00 to prepare for the marathon.  High 30s was the forecast for the 8:00 start, rising into the low 50s with little chance of  rain.  So I donned running tights and multiple layers of technical fabric shirts to keep warm.  I stepped out onto the balcony at the Sanctuary. It felt a little warm. By 7:30 (when the LLS staff took the team picture), the temperature had risen into the 40s, with scattered clouds. Great running weather--but not for heavy layers and tights. In a quick trip back to the room, I doffed the extra layers and proceeded to the starting corrals.

          Five and a half hours and 26.2 miles later (I never claimed to be fast), I had gone the distance, urged on by Team in Training coaches, by my wife who biked along the route after the half-marathoners had left the course, by LLS staff members, and by Dave York's wife Melissa who also rode a bike.  (Last winter, Dave sat out the Disney half to take care of the kid so Melissa could run with us. Melissa sat out this season.)

The future: ?
          There's always somewhere to go, some new challenge to take on, some distance to go.  Having challenges is part of being human. And it's part of being human in society.  Sometimes the problems coming from living socially grow so big as to demand change. Sometimes we know society needs fixing, but we don't know exactly how we want it fixed. That sense of malaise turns to frustration, to fear, and, for some, to action. Any action,  Even if it's only to join Peter Finch in telling the world that "I'm mad as hell, and I'm not gonna take this anymore."

Peter Finch in Network

          Time magazine just chose The Protester as its Person of the Year. From Tunis to New York to Tripoli to Winston-Salem, people took to the streets, to the squares, to city parks, to roadway sidewalks to protest. They protested dictators. They protested banks. They protested the far too influential role money pays in politics. They protested the loss of freedom.  And the lack of freedom.  And the exercise of freedom by others who hold different points of view.

         My emerging challenge is and must be political. Working within "the system" to change those elements that deny average Americans the freedoms and liberties that made America great. Elements like politicians that heed the call of big corporate lobbyists, while ignoring the best interests of their own constituents because they need money to mount increasingly expensive re-election campaigns. Elements like party bosses who put party above people.Elements like businesses that foul everyone's air and water supplies for private gain, passing on the costs to everyone as a hidden tax. Elements like the legislators and bureaucrats who pass the laws and regulations making these spoliations absolutely legal.

          The protesters have effected change in Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya. Politicians are taking notice in Morocco, Syria, Myanmar and Yemen--some implementing changes to forestall a breakdown of the social order while others use violent repression to maintain the status quo. In the United States, the "occupy" movement, ill-defined as it is, has brought hope to students, the unemployed, working professionals, grandparents and just everyday folks that change is possible. That they are the agents of change. A belief is emerging that if we, collectively, go the distance, we can make right what is wrong with, America even if we don't yet know how.

            So I invite you to join me in going the distance to restore to Americans a nation that lives up to its promise of providing "liberty and justice for all."

          May the blessings and the promises of your winter holy days give you, and us all, the strength of purpose to be agents of change in 2012.

          John Motsinger

Marathon day is Saturday, December 10, 2011!

AT THE START ON RACE DAY

See my Team in Training web page for news about the marathon event I run in this weekend at Kiawah Island, South Carolina.  Wish me well as I go the distance!

And thanks for your support of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. With your help, our local Triad team raised over $35,000 for the cause.

Best wishes!

John