Here’s what living on a United States Navy Ship during a deployment taught me about the people Trump considers the “little people.” Shortly after stepping onboard a ship with your sea bag saddled over your shoulder, you discover that many of your greatest daily needs will be handled, largely, by folks who have been in the Navy less than 12 months. The 18,000 meals that will be prepared and served each day will be taken care of by sailors you may never even see. They’ll go days…or weeks at a time, without ever even having sunlight make contact with their skin. Take them out of the equation for 24 hours and the morale of an entire fighting force would plummet. After 48 hours on an empty stomach tempers would flare and chaos would erupt. Take the “little people” in food services out of the picture, and you would effectively cripple a $10 Billion dollar aircraft carrier, air wing, and the sailors onboard. Of course, I could go through the list of countless rates (what you are trained to do) on a Navy ship that are all vital pieces of the democracy preserving puzzle. They ALL matter. Many roles which might normally be seen as “just the stuff that happens in the periphery of the important stuff,” in the civilian world, turn out to be some of the most important jobs. This is what Donald Trump was never interested in learning in life. He never had to. His life, from a very young age, was one of learning to see other people only as resources available to use for his own gain. He would never have dreamed of stepping back to say, “You know what? Virtually everything in life I enjoy has only been possible because of OTHER people. Without them, I could have achieved nothing of importance in my life (and I’d argue he still hasn’t) and ‘Trump’ would almost certainly not have been a well known brand.” Nothing Trump has done in life would have been possible without many other people. Many of them being people Trump views as “little people.” (Read that as “insignificant people.”) Yet, that’s the case for all of us. We all “stand on the shoulders of giants” in one way or another. I genuinely believe there are no “little people” for President Biden, in terms of “little” meaning “insignificant.” For him, there are simply “people.” Yes, some people have a more prestigious title, position or income than others, but for Joseph R. Biden, none of that defines them, or determines their value in life. Where President Biden sees goodness in others, Trump either sees someone who is useful to him, personally, or…someone who isn’t. Where President Biden sees a moment where others might be comforted by his willingness to shed a tear or reveal his own personal painful emotions (and going ahead and doing so, even though he knows he’ll be mocked,) Donald Trump sees a moment where comforting others, at the expense of possibly appearing “weak,” as something to be avoided at all costs. In some ways, I see President Biden as a great BIG person, who navigates life keeping the “little person” inside of him nourished and very much alive, and able to offer him inner counsel at times when advice from the smartest advisors one could have, simply falls short of connecting on a basic human level. I grew up around “little people.” My family consisted of “little people.” I was the first person in my family to ever go to college. I like “little people.” I’m still a “little person.” I’m “little” in the sense that I realize anything of significance I’ve ever achieved, was made possible by the help of other people. That will always be true. There is only one person who will be on the ballot in the November Presidential election who understands the vital importance of the “little people” in life. There’s only one person who knows what it’s like to be a “little person.” President Biden is the ray of light this nation needed so desperately in 2020. He’s the ray of light we’ll need heading into the future.