Our Mission, if We Choose to Accept it…

Guest Blogger: Joan Ruaiz

I remember quite well the beginning of each Mission Impossible episode, way back in the day. There, on that miniature tape recording, in the phone booth with the handsome super secret agent leader, was the team’s instruction for a particularly dangerous mission, deemed impossible.

After providing all of the required background information, and the reasons why the mission was necessary to the national security of the country, the tape would self-destruct. Then the famous Mission Impossible music would cue up.

There is a reason the show was a hit with all demographics and is now a classic that represents Americana’s (ask what you can do for your country) finest. It was the recurring story of a group of fearless individuals willing to take on insurmountable odds, via a set of carefully planned actions, for the benefit of the ultimate greater good. Each member of the designated team was to utilize tried and true classic methods and/or cutting edge technology, depending on the individual’s forte. But each role within the team had a specific irreplaceable value; each as important as the next; each interconnected; and if one’s actions faltered, the entire mission could fail.

We elected a community organizer back on that November day, almost 3 years ago. Perhaps he hasn’t been much of a super-duper secret agent, as we wished he was all along. I do, however, believe that he did deliver our instructions, and we now need to get the job done. Understand that our part has to be accomplished either now or never. I’ll add the understatement that millions of lives depend on our actions, if we so choose to accept this mission.

So in calling all Democratic Activists, we have a job to do, and it involves dealing with a slew of bad guys who need tending to, and that’s our mission’s goal. Whatever role you will play in making sure that the villains and their bad ideas are destroyed, it must be executed to the best of your abilities, and in reality, to near-perfection. Once you accept the mission, there can be no turning back, no hesitation, and no slacking. This is a group mission and failure is not an option.

On that glorious election victory night, the President gave us our mission. I will now replay the tape, as I have a back-up copy in my possession.

The newly named President-elect, speaking to us at Grant Park, stated:

“I know you didn’t do this just to win an election and I know you didn’t do it for me. You did it because you
understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know
the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime.”

He messaged on:

“The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term,
but America – I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.”

And now for the mission:

“I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way its been done in America for two-hundred
and twenty-one years – block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand”,

We know that politics is not a spectator sport, but the art of the possible, and our mission should be clear by now. In choosing to accept this mission, we must take Pres. Barack Obama’s instructions seriously, when he said: “It cannot happen without you.”

To make it clearer still, each individual has his or her part to play, and it must be performed according to plan. I stress once again that we cannot falter, or doubt our abilities to get the mission accomplished. Each team member is relying on the others, and the action of each of us can and will impact the completion of the mission, and more importantly, the overall security of our nation. The results of this mission, if not accomplished, are not something any one of us should want. In fact, it would be a fatal tragedy, with dire consequences that would affect many.

So let us summon the courage and determination that we have demanded from others, and instead of waiting for the next team members to act, let us each take the responsibility that is ours and do exactly what is in our power to do, in order to insure that we make this Mission Possible.

Cue up the music!