My March Toward the Future

It's been a while since I've sat down to write, but this topic has been slowly churning around in my mind for quite some time and has just now formed into something that I feel I can put down on paper. Unless you've been living under a rock, it's obvious that human rights issues have been the topic of many protests and social media arguments over the last year or so. Many of these were fueled, or brought closer to the surface, due to the recent presidential election, but I would like to stay away from most of the electoral issues for the purpose of this writing-that's not what's at the core of my heart right now. I honestly don't care what political party is in charge, I care that freedom and decency be granted to everyone. 

I'd like to start by saying that as a privileged white woman in America most of my heartbreak for the issues of minorities come from others' stories of racism, sexism, bigotry, and judgement. I've personally seen very little of what others have to face every day. My heart breaks for those whos stories are beyond what I can fully understand. My fight, while still for the rights to my own body and my own future, is even more so for them. One of the best posters that I saw held up during the march was one that read, 'Privilege is when you believe that something is not a problem because it's not a problem to you personally.' Many people do not understand the outcry that is occurring across the world because they fail to try to understand the fear and pain that many are facing every day. Observing the Women's Marches across the globe this weekend was overwhelmingly uplifting for me and got me thinking a lot about what I hope happens from this point forward.

I thought a lot this weekend about how passionate I am about seeing equal rights for everyone and about how I have done very little but talk up until this point. I didn't pay attention to the policies at my local government levels, I didn't carefully read about amendments and make sure that I voted on the topics that were important, and I didn't pay enough attention to who was being elected on the lower political levels. I have a lot of action to take from this point forward. I need to be a lot more aware of what is happening around me politically. For not doing this sooner, and for thinking that my one little voice doesn't matter, I alone am responsible and very sorry.

My other action in the fight for equality is to continue what I have already been doing. I have been working hard to build a career and chase my dreams regardless of the things that are trying to hold me back. I am going to continue to climb and to tirelessly work for my dreams and encourage those close to me to continue to do so as well. Not only do I do this for myself, but for those around me who do not currently have that option. I want to be a light and a hand to anyone else who is fighting to get to where their dreams may lie. I want to be a voice of encouragement, begging those who have a passion to keep fighting and keep climbing, regardless if they are twelve years old or one hundred and two, if they are white, black, Native American, gay, transgender, Muslim, Jewish, or any of the numerous minorities that I have left out. I hope that the millions of individuals that came out this weekend to march for you will be a burning reminder in your heart that we have each others backs-GLOBALLY!

Lastly, my plea to myself and to all others in this fight is to stay kind. I know that there are many that will disagree with me on this one because it is past the point of kindness, and because war isn't pretty or nice. In my heart, however, I feel that I start to become part of the problem when I cross the line into hatred. I am not saying to back down or to be quiet, because that is the opposite of what this fight is for. I am saying that I can be loud, and I can be heard, and I can make change happen without compromising my morals of right and wrong. These marches across the world were loud and uncensored and they were peaceful-and that is exactly what I am aiming for. I believe that wrong needs to be called out over and over again, but I do not believe that change will not happen by making fun of others, or by trying to make the enemy 'see what it feels like'. If nothing else, we can be thankful that opposition is only making us stronger and louder and more banded together toward change.

This isn't something that is easy for me to publicly say because I live in a community where I can receive a lot of hatred and backlash for stating my beliefs about my rights to make my own decisions about my body. No one is going to physically throw anything at me, and no one is going to fire me from my job, but it's still hard to know that I could get some negative feedback for stating my truth. The bottom line for me is that I believe that everyone deserves to be loved (not tolerated) and to get to love the way they want to, and to feel safe, and have any opportunity that they want to work for. I am tired of watching the justification of the taking of any person's freedom because of a bible verse or a political belief system, or because it's better for our economy. I don't ever intend to change the mind of anyone else, but I am changing the way that I live and the way that I fight.