The other day, I tripped across a quote in an interview of the oyster farmer running for U.S. Senate in Maine, Graham Platner. He sure sounds like my kind of guy. But then, my husband and I moved to Vermont, in part, so that we could vote for Bernie Sanders.

“Individualism and hustle culture mean we’re always killing ourselves with work,” Platner says. “[We’re] too busy to talk to [our] neighbors.”

Like so many folks reading this, I’ve been struggling with how to find a place in the future of our country where I can truly defend our democracy. We’re all going to have a different answer to JFK’s signature premise of “Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.”

So what’s mine?

I’ve long been an advocate of paying attention to the details of life—smiling at someone when we pass on the sidewalk, thanking the waitress who brings food to my table, hugging friends, watching the leaves answer the call of autumn, appreciating the heady fragrance of sheets dried outdoors.

Which is why I was so struck by Platner’s observation. What if the answer to the extreme angst of modern life (and we all feel it) is talking to our friends and neighbors?

Let’s try some of that, shall we?

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If you’d like to know more about the candidate that I hope to see in the U.S. Senate for Maine in the next election, take the time to click this link and get acquainted: https://newrepublic.com/article/199682/graham-platner-maine-senate-profile?utm_source=sfmc&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Cog_Editorial_091425&utm_term=https%3a%2f%2fnewrepublic.com%2farticle%2f199682%2fgraham-platner-maine-senate-profile&utm_id=141417&sfmc_id=17018342