On juggling responsibility

I have recently made the decision to change jobs. It was a decision not made lightly and with much grief over letting my coworkers down.

I used to pride myself on loyalty, but that came at great personal cost in my last job, and I told myself I would never again be so afraid of change, or so beholden to an employer, that I would compromise my own personal happiness.

So, I tentatively enter a new phase in my career, with the intent to be more impactful overall in that field.

Today, I consider the responsibilities of life, especially as a mother, daughter, provider, friend, employee and community advocate (or whatever this forum and similar ones have made me into). And tempered with a bit of emotion at the turmoil I find myself in.

The weight of the world is heavy. Each of us carry at least our own world on our shoulders, every day, through every situation. Then, we add the weight of other peoples’ worlds. More parts of a whole, that usually add up to much more than 100%. Some of us succeed and some of us do not. Some of us have support and some of us do not. Most of us carry only our own, or our small circle of responsibility. As a community, we share, we sacrifice, we hope - together. Which means that our elected officials must carry a piece of that for all of us, whether we voted for them or not.

I’ve alluded to this situation before, whereby, if our youth are committing murder, if we have homeless veterans on the street, if a police officer dies in the line of duty, we, as a community, have failed. While we argue over cause and effect for $4 per gallon gasoline, we lose sight of the real issues in our community.

So, too, did Las Cruces for the Model City initiative. The chance to be awarded millions of dollars from the Department of Justice, to treat and prevent those exact issues in our community, were squandered because it might be perceived as a win for an unpopular president. Talk about biting the hand that feeds you, all the while crying about what the administration has taken away. This administration has become such an albatross (real or perceived) that even its offer to address real issues was cast aside. It’s not about appearing to “fight the man”, but rather an irresponsibility on the part of our elected leaders to not seek out help and hope for those struggling in Las Cruces.

At the end of the day, most people do not care about politics. They just want to be able to provide food for their families, play in a safe park, and find a doctor when they get sick. These are not political talking points, but realities for so many Americans, New Mexicans, and Las Crucens. Democratic states have figured it out or failed, right alongside Republican states also doing both. But failing, in some instances, means so much more than one guy didn’t win and election, but rather that your grandfather can’t afford his prescriptions this month, your brother doesn’t come home from a graveyard shift, or that you have to choose between rent and food.

Moral responsibility and political points aren’t even in the same zip code. Stop marrying them on the same coin. Our elected officials are so busy clambering to show off who or what they are aligned with, that they’ve forgotten how to look at a situation objectively and decide what is best for the community as a whole.

If you are running for office, or are already in office, and the most frequent words out of your mouth are “Trump” or “Biden”, you are missing the whole point.

Shawna Pfeiffer is a life-long Dona Ana County Resident, graduate of NMSU, small business owner, hobby farmer, dog-lover, outdoor enthusiast and mother to two young children. She can be reached at srpfeiffer1@gmail.com.