I guarantee you, if you’ve ever entered into a city for a couple of hours or more, you’ve ran into one of us. And you probably walked on by. I know from experience, I’ve dodged canvassers too.

You know those people? They have tablets or clipboards and are friendly. They ask you how your day is going, a big smile on their face, and then ask if you’re interested in getting involved with this or that cause.

Well, hi there! My name’s Lissa and I’m working on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union — the ACLU.

Many people think of canvassers as the bane of their existence. This is something my fellow canvassers and I muse over quite often. Canvassing is a hard job; the job is about making personal connections with complete strangers, educating them about a cause, and encouraging them to get involved on a here-and-now level — a level which often involves donating, particularly at a monthly level.

As a canvasser in New York City, I can tell you the job is exhausting. On one of my first days with my campaign, a friend admitted to me that canvassing is part skill and part luck; the job is both mentally and physically tiring, and is absolutely not for everyone. Your job is constantly on the line, and you’ll get more rejections in a single day than most get in a month. You might be out there fighting against legal discrimination and for job security, but your own is relatively nonexistent.

When I got this job two weeks ago, it was because I needed a job. Having sent in resume and CV after resume and CV and being completely sick of writing new cover letters, I applied for this job online, and by the next day was set up for an interview for the week after. I got hired for training and was set up for the potential to have a minimum wage 9-to-5 job. The first day was difficult, hard, and painful. It was 89 degrees out most of the day, and I was standing outside in the sun for six hours. When I got home, my nose was red with sunburn, my legs and feet ached, and I had faced countless “no”s, “sorry I’m late to an appointment”s and “fuck you”s.

Canvassing is important. Grassroots support systems generate personalized dedication from the masses to countless causes whether they be civil rights, international outreach, political, or environmentally based. They develop constituencies that inform local and widespread politicians about the passion the people have for various issues, which pressures them to help aid in social change. Canvassers educate people daily on issues that people are completely unaware of. I myself knew very little about the extent of the conglomeration of issues that the LGBTQ community face until this job became my world.

This year alone has reaped over 200 anti-LGBT bills, and in 28 states someone can be fired because of their sexual orientation. In 31 states, including my state of New York, the latter goes for the transgender community. More than half of our country is wrought with bigotry and legal discrimination, ranging from lack of worker protections to bathroom bills and laws to denial of wedding and housing services to even refusal of mental health care services. The amount of allowances the looseness of Title IX allow has allowed an intense amount of backlash to marriage equality, paving a way for fear and hate-driven prejudice to become so easily obtainable as law. Again. In 2016.

While I wouldn't have called myself ignorant before this job, the facilities this type of job has offered me to learn and grow as a person and thinker have been unquestionable. I am constantly learning to have thicker skin. I can't put a number on the amount of times I've been cursed out or yelled at, and there has been more than one time that I've been physically threatened by a random denizen on the street.

These situations are terrible, and help put in perspective how much of a way New York has to go before it truly fits the "progressive" label. But canvassing is not a sob story; it's a success story. My patience, kindness, and education is growing daily in a way that it never has before. My public speaking abilities and debating talents have allowed me to school a lawyer on the street. I'm a more aware person, and I can finally call myself an activist, aspiring to a level of humane efforts that I admire in so many.

Canvassing is about strength, and passion, and the people and what they stand for. It's not about the people who yell at you or make you need to take a minute to collect yourself. It's about the people who tell you their stories, stop and say "thank you" for your efforts, and those who simply stop and take time out of their day. It's about those who smile and give you a high-five as they rush back to work from their lunch break and those who don't understand or have a different matter of an opinion and are still willing to learn.

Canvassing is about love. It's about loving yourself and loving others, and helping people love others. It's about dedication. It's about tolerance for people who share your ideas, and listening to another perspective, and using that to help form thoughts to not only persuade, but to respect people for who they are rather than immediately judging them.

Hi, my name is Lissa Heineman, and my job as a canvasser has not only changed my life, but has changed my soul.