The Mistake I Almost Made (And What Stopped Me) 

The mistake I almost made was believing bad-faith actors deserved my energy.

 

Early on, when people attacked me online, mischaracterized my values, assigned motives to me I’ve never held, or tried to paint me as some caricature to protect their favored incumbent, I felt compelled to respond.

 

Not out of insecurity, but out of truth. Out of fairness. Out of wanting people to understand who I actually am.

 

But the more I engaged, the more I realized something:

 

Responding to bad faith pulls you down to the level where movements suffocate. It shrinks your horizon until you’re fighting battles that never deserved your attention.

 

What stopped me was clarity:

• clarity about the mission

• clarity about the people we’re serving

• clarity about what it means to move with direction instead of distraction

 

Every minute I spent trying to persuade someone who was committed to misunderstanding me was a minute I wasn’t using to knock a new door, help a volunteer find their voice, or build a coalition that actually wants to make things better.

 

You don’t build ascent by fighting in the mud. You build ascent by climbing anyway.

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