Colorado's 5th Congressional District

I grew up in Colorado district 5 and spent the majority of my life here. I have also had the opportunity to live in other states for extended periods of time in my adult life. Here is my uncensored perception of Colorado District 5, given my lifelong observations and experiences.  

What I remember most about growing up in the area is mostly the people. I found the people, at least the ones I gravitated towards, to be sharp, humorous, and soulful people who care about "the pack," whether that was friends, family, extracurricular, military, or church community.

​I did experience some racist bullying in my primary school years, but as I got older, racism diminished, and overall I felt welcomed by everyone. This could have been my own specific experience, but compared to other areas Colorado district 5 is really OK in this regard.

 

Most of the people I knew were open-minded, intelligent, caring people who did not discriminate others due to their race, sexual identity, or class, but maybe I was just lucky. I was shocked when groups out of town came to petition that "God Hates Fags." It didn't make a lot of sense to me, but again, maybe I was just lucky to know people who weren't that crude.

 

I genuinely have had mostly good experiences with the local military and veterans. I found that I have a lot in common with them actually. Now that I am older, I find that the people I can most relate with most are war veterans, as someone who has also been through severe physical and psychological trauma myself, and not always been understood. I find most vets, the ones I've met at least, are astute, realistic, at times -- sensitive -- people who know where to place importance in life. Maybe that is me just idealizing veterans, but that has been my experience. There is a statistic out there that veterans have a higher suicide rate than non-veterans. So some work needs to be done to address this so all of us can have a meaningful fulfilling experience of life.

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But honestly? In comparison to all my experiences across states, in Colorado district 5 we threw the best parties, had the best conversations with a variety of brilliant people who held different opinions, lifestyles, and viewpoints, made great friends, laughed a lot, and the skies were gorgeous day and night. There was a great local arts and music culture, beautiful mountains, fun local festivals, and Manitou Springs is absolutely mythical. If anything, people were a little *too friendly,* and I saw more rainbows in the Colorado sky than anywhere else.

It is special here and has tremendous potential to be a national role model in leadership and community conduct. We have to acknowledge that so we can fight for the representation that can reflect the truth of it. I recognize it -- do you?

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Times are changing and the current congressman will have to leave the position eventually. Take this opportunity to fill the position with someone you can trust and with whom you can relate. The opportunity may never represent itself again.

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