Last week, I lost a job I'd had for less than a month when the venture collapsed under its own weight. Less than ten minutes later, I got a call from a good friend based in D.C. who said, Sara, we need you here and we need you here now. Swing Semester needs you. We are not only placing students into swing states for the election-cycle and providing them with good Friendly hosts families, we are creating an intergenerational experience, a syllabus for both host families and the students,

Sensing no stops and the abundance of opportunities to change the lives of young people and the course of my country, I said yes, and three days later I was packing my bags, kissing my sweetheart farewell and flying from San Francisco to Washington DC.

On the plane, I thought of Spirit. What does it mean to do political and spiritual work simultaneously? How do we know we are being led by the Spirit? I thought of how fast it all is, making a decision in less than 48 hours to move across the country. Not exactly typical Quaker process. Yet that is what we are asking people to do, to decide, quickly, to go from interest to action. To stop just reading papers and talking to class mates about politics and to go out there and do something. To let their lives speak for what they believe. I am asking young people to do what I did.

It was 2004 and I was ending a glorious year at Quaker Center in California. I was floating and a bit lost as to where to go next. So when a friend recommended Swing Semester, I said, wow! Great!

Flying into Cleveland, Ohio, joining a host family and meeting my house-mate, a wonderful Unitarian, I had no idea what I was in for. Later, we moved into the large Cleveland Meeting House. It was there that I found my sanctuary, and began to understand some of the complexities of faith, politics, American life and my personal daily salvation that I never could have learned through books or if I had stayed in California. Outsiders may not always be particularly welcomed, but being one teaches you things in a way nothing else can.

I pounded on the doors of hundreds of Midwestern Americans of all colors, backgrounds and social classes. I had doors slammed in my face and dogs growl at me. Four years later I still remember the apathy I saw in the eyes peering out from behind the half-cracked door, an apathy that angered me and fueled my entry into journalism and later despair and empowerment work and my over-riding interest in human spiritual development at the communal level.

I also had people welcome me in. I still remember one woman inviting me into her small dining room, giving me a cup of tea and freshly baked cookie, to sit and discuss the ins and outs of voting and these particular candidates. It was delightful.

And then there was the team. There are no bonds like election team bonds. The thrill of elections, the potential to make a difference and to run a good hard clean race can be addicting.

But I suspect my greatest growth came at the meeting house, in the long discussions my housemate and I had about our lives. What was progress, and what was faith, and what was politics? Where were the churches? Where was the community? Why were people not fighting for justice, and a fair economy? Now I ask, why are we not in the streets fighting for a green economy? I sat in silence a lot, pouring over my Faith and Practice, looking for answers in a way I never had before, because never before had I so felt the fate of a nation resting on the work that I, and many others, were doing. I was never as upset that Kerry lost as many of friends back home. I had, after all, acted.

In the end, I realized I was most disturbed by the spiritual questions: why was there so much apathy and so much despair? These are Americans, in the richest country in the world (especially four years ago). Why did they not feel that their voice, their vote, mattered?

And I saw that, on some level, true political development and true human and spiritual development were not separate subjects. Our ability to work together for a common cause and to create the rules, regulations and declarations that will determine our mutual destiny is a key part of our spiritual practice as Quakers, and it is one much needed on a national and international level. We are as we relate, and politics is the realm of relationships.

I also decided that door-to-door canvassing right before an election was not going to change the underlying problems in this country.

So why am I supporting Swing Semester again? Partly because Way Opened. But more than that, Swing semester 2008, unlike 2004, has a syllabus for young people to look deeply into these questions together with their host families and that will lead to greater human development.

And I know there is nothing like going door-to-door far from home to teach you about America. And I believe we are obligated to engage in politics, especially at a time like this, when the very future of life itself hinges on our collective actions.

I remember on the train home, through the glories of mid-November between Chicago and California, the moment that I realized that I am, indeed, a patriot. I love our country. It is not always an easy love.

But we have the potential to create a clean'n'green economy, to facilitate international conversations about climate change and security, to bring cutting edge ideas to the fore in every field, to learn from one another, to be not the best country but a strong and wise country, to have interfaith communities - to hold one another accountable , to pursue truth, freedom, and happiness.

If you would like to participate in Swing Semester, then I humbly invite you to do so. If you know of young people (age 18-26) who might be interested, then I invite you to call them and ask them. It is an adventure - and a service to our country. And may all that we do be of service to God.

www.swingsemester.org

Today we are approaching one of the most exciting and important elections in American history.  This September, Swing Semester is supporting passionate young people in venturing out to swing states for intensive progressive work through the election cycle.  At present, Swing Semester is the sole organization parachuting young people to swing states, where every day will make a difference.
Further, we connect participants with host families to engage in this vital election, provide a leading edge syllabus to incorporate practice with theory, secure participants paying jobs, and link them with like-minded young people (age 18-26).

When we did this in 2004, past participants told us that this program 'changed their life' and 2004 hosts are eager to host again. Join us today to take a stand for the direction of your country.

From interest to action sara..reveal email..@gmail.org, 510 529 1503