“She said that constituents are like cockroaches.”
I was taking the train from one coast to the other. I had a short stop in Chicago and met my friend Galen for lunch. He’s lanky and redheaded and lumberjack-ish.
He had made us lunch, which was nice. We were in his office building, overlooking Lake Michigan from the 21st floor. That was also nice. Galen moved to Chicago, to gather support for a bill that raised car emission standards. I asked about apathy, about young people that question the value of even a phone call. He said he wondered the same thing and a congresswoman gave him this answer.
“She said that constituents are like cockroaches.”
I sat back like I had just smelled something sour.
“Now, wait a minute, let me finish. You asked. She said they’re like cockroaches. If you get a phone call or email from one, you’d probably just squish it and forget about it.”
Galen dug his toe on the carpet killing a fake bug.
“But the next day; you get three calls, you see three cockroaches. You’d squish those too but it’d stick in your mind juuustt a bit longer. Wouldn’t it?”
I nodded.
“Well, you come in again and you see five or ten cockroaches, five or ten calls. Well now you’re wondering where they’re coming from, aren’t you?”
He squinted one eye and pointed his finger at the behind me.
“You’re wondering ‘What’s behind my walls?’”
I laughed and stared over Lake Michigan.
“So that’s what I tell them to tell that voice who says it’s not worth it to call. I say take 5 minutes and be a cockroach. It’s not hard to be a roach. Maybe you’ll get squished; you’ll get ignored. But that’s not a problem, at worst you’ll feel good that you tried. At best, you’re the the cockroach that gets them pointing at the wall and wondering.”
