It's been my dream for a long time to one day run for a local elected office in my community to help people, fight back against surveillance, yadda yadda ya. But I'm terrified of the sacrifice that would require. I'm a neurodivergent, shy dweeb who does not have a very robust social life. If I wanted to go down that road, it feels like I would have to repress so many parts of my identity to even have a slim chance, and even though I know I could influence the world around me positively, I just don't know if it would be worth it for the suffering that would necessitate. The idea of just shelving that mindset and being true to myself in public is just mortifying, I don't think I have the strength to do that. But if I sit down and do nothing to help the world as it burns around me, that just feels cowardly. I want to do something good so, so badly, but I feel like I'm just a bad person by default, so nothing I would do could ever matter regardless.