Humanizing 2020: Marianne Williamson
An ongoing series to humanize all 2020 Presidential Candidates
Good Memo [ShareGVL] has set out to humanize political candidates of all types. We have spoken to numerous candidates thus far, with 2020 Presidential Candidate Marianne Williamson’s story below.
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Running for: United States President
Candidate: Ms. Marianne Williamson
There is nothing about me that isn’t true about anybody in my age and time, but if you put it all together, my story, then it does seem interesting.
I was in a middle-class family. I did have a magical father, he was a cross between William Kunstler and Zorba the Greek. He was an outrageous, charismatic, fiery, magical being. He was an immigration lawyer that grew up in deep poverty and was passionate about social justice. He taught his children to do everything that you can to do to stand for something meaningful. We are doing this in our lives. I got my fight from my father. My father died in 1994 and I am still trying to get his approval.
I was born and raised in Houston, TX but I have lived most of my adult life, however, in Los Angeles. I have also lived in New York and Michigan. New York was exciting and Los Angeles was home-based. In New York, I was one of many and enjoyed the bakeries, the ones where you could sit, have a good cup of coffee and a wonderful croissant, something very charming with nice people.
I have a twenty-nine year old daughter, India, who is getting her PhD in History. She also went to law school in England. My proudest moments were giving birth to her and raising her. She is happy, she is well-adjusted and a responsible citizen. As a citizen, I used to watch the news to relax. Now, running as a 2020 Presidential Candidate, it is more likely to make me tight or upset so I am watching it less. I am currently reading a book called, ‘The War on Peace’ by Ronan Farrow.
Deciding to run for President was a process, it took a year-and-a-half. I do not believe any of us went into with delusions, it is hard. You will get made fun of, especially when you have a good thirty-five year career. You see things about yourself online that are not true, lies. I saw an article the other day and if one sentence within that article were true, well, I wouldn’t like me either.
It is much like you [Wyatt Stephens of ShareGVL] were talking about with the UK’s, ‘right to be forgotten.’ You see stuff and you say, that is a horrid untrue thing to me.
But I went into this, knowing that I was going to be publicly humiliated, there was going to be mockery, I knew that. I prayed that I have tough enough skin to take it. It is a psychological and spiritual challenge but I will continue to keep on and keep on. It is a daily effort, sometimes hour by hour. Sometimes minute by minute and that is where meditation comes in. We are able to have passion when we have a calling. My fight is driven by heart. My heart told me to do this and it is not telling me to stop.
I live by the phrase, ‘Tikkun olam,’ which is a Jewish expression that means: ‘repair the world.’ There is an old saying that you are not expected to complete the past, nor obligated to do such. But neither are you permitted to abandon it. When I think of our responsibility as citizens to make the world a better place, I do not have any illusions that individuals are indispensable to the process. I do not have any illusions ourselves that we are going to complete the task. But I do believe that God does not permit us to abandon the effort, I take this very seriously.
I realized that the influence of money within our political system is the cancer underlying all of the other cancers. When I hear stories, such as here in South Carolina, specifically in Denmark, South Carolina [water], then it is saddening. It is corrupt. It should never be about a short-term profit for the corporations of America, rather, it should be the health and well-being of the people of the United States of America and the people of the World. It can be a challenge to live on this world in which we live but we must rise to the occasion. I think that is a challenge as well, as individuals. We must all do what we can.
It is bothersome that we have children in the United States of America that go to school with no school supplies. When I see things like the willingness to sacrifice moralities for profit, that is reckless. When you see injustice, it goes against our society.
Dr. Martin Luther King once said, ‘our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.`These things matter, if they do not matter, then why are we here? Only you will determine what the true answer is and only you can advocate for such.
You can learn in an age that you understand. You come to understand some things when you are older. You start to see patterns of whatever it might be and that is wisdom, showing those patterns to the younger generations. That is what I will continue to do.