FAITH AND VOTING TOO –
Sept. 29, 2025 – Recovery is not just a personal journey. It is a political one. It provides a roadmap for how we might mend and heal our seemingly broken democracy: people of different faiths, political parties and diverse identities sitting beside one another, offering a hand to someone in need, and saying: You got this, you are not alone. At a time when our country feels increasingly divided and many are left feeling isolated and alone, recovery offers hope, investing in one another, in community and in the belief that every person matters. Growing up in a small Midwestern town, I never fit the mold, nor could I live up to the expectation of what a boy was “supposed” to be. I was bullied for how I dressed and looked and called a “pretty boy” and “sissy” when I expressed vulnerability or showed emotion. The message to me was very clear: Who I was wasn’t acceptable. Anxiety and depression followed.
By the time I discovered alcohol and other substances as a teenager, it felt like the only thing that made life bearable.
