Brittany Branyon: I’m not as liberal as I thought

Brittany Branyon
Published: July 9, 2008

The attempt I made to bring the issue of progressives being misunderstood came back to bite me.
Can’t say I didn’t see that coming, just not in the way it did. I received e-mails and phone calls about how demeaning and confusing I was in my explanation. My bad; thought it spoke for itself. It was suggested to me to stop being an extremist and to stop reading communist novels.
First of all, I understand I may come across as an extremist. This is the Deep South after all, a region that prides itself in tradition. Anything new and out of the ordinary may be seen as a threat or preposterous. And to clarify things here, the books I read for pleasure are not based on Communism. In fact the only Communist literature I have read has been in school, and that’s to educate us, not to breed little Commies.
But if there is one thing I am not going to compromise it is my integrity and my belief system. I can’t help I think the way I do; meet my family and you will quickly learn that I am a black sheep. They didn’t teach me to believe the things I do. If there is one thing I hope to portray through this piece it is that we are more alike than different. That’s the beauty of America.

My brothers have always been an inspiration to me. They are smart, talented and handsome men who work hard to provide for their families. I often worry about letting my parents down because, to me, my brothers are the epitome of success. Both of them make a great deal of money, live in beautiful homes and are truly happy with their lives. Both are very conservative, but you know what, we can still find common ground. For example, we are all Deadheads, we work hard to achieve our goals, and at first glance you can tell we’re related.

I often call my brother, Chip, about school and job matters and it seems he always has the answers or at least ideas to help me find them on my own. I told him once I wanted to move to New York City.

He told me the reasons why he didn’t think it was such a great idea along with suggestions of other cities that I might like, adding, “You should try getting out of Alabama for a while.” This led to a conversation on what I may do for a living in which I said, “I figure I’ll be broke for a while because the jobs I’m looking for probably won’t pay well.”

He mistook my comment, adding that it’s not a bad thing to make money. Now I am the first person so admit I talk too much, but I didn’t mean to say making money isn’t cool. What I meant was the jobs I am looking into probably won’t pay millions.

Chip continued that what I am doing is great, that I have the courage to go out and physically try to make the world a better place while he uses the wealth he has accumulated doing what he loves to help people as well. He explained that people making bank do their fair share, too.
It makes sense that you should be happy with what you bring in, however much, or little, it is. And that’s when I realized I am not as “liberal” as I thought.

Brittany Branyon is a junior at Auburn University and is co-chair for the Auburn Sustainability Action Program.