Okay, I know I said I wasn’t going to get any more political than my last post. But then this week happened. Wow. I am exhausted. Are you?
Personally, I am quite liberal. I feel like SOAM is a radical and subversive idea and I think that things which are radical and subversive are, also liberal. I know there is a large liberal community here, but I also know there are a considerable number of conservative readers and I appreciate each of you. SOAM may be a liberal concept, but I LOVE that it’s a non-partisan issue and a bi-partisan community. Our diversity here is not only the very concept of SOAM (to show the world as many diverse bodies as possible), but it’s also the beauty of it. I love you guys for your love and your passion.
So I want to be very careful in my thoughts here. I am going to try to phrase things as carefully and respectfully as I can (in the time I have to write – I’ve got a buttload of reading to get done for my classes) and I hope that you can do your best to read my intents for what they are.
On the ballot I tend to vote Democrat, but I think my political beliefs can be summed up thus: each person is valuable and important. Our wonderful Declaration of Independence claims that everyone is created equally and I believe that means that each person should have equal access to knowledge and health as well as to opportunity.
Frankly, I am afraid at what is happening in the US right now. People are not being valued. The man who was elected president has said some of the worst things I’ve ever heard in my life about almost every group of people that make up this beautifully diverse nation. I want to cry. I am afraid for my family and friends, for my community.
I am afraid for a lot of things, but in regards to the aims and ideals of this website, I am afraid for the future of women in this country.
As an English student in my first semester of university (I transferred from a community college), I was trying to decide between taking a minor in Women’s Studies and earning a certificate in publishing with the hopes that it would guarantee me a career to plug into if other paying work wasn’t so easy to find. On Tuesday, I actually met with the advisor of the Women’s Studies department to discuss this and I told her I wasn’t sure yet. And then the election results started to roll in and I became very sure very quickly. I have decided on Women’s Studies. I know it seems silly. I probably should have majored in it since I’ve already got the decade-long career here at SOAM. But the River of Life has a lot of twists and turns and I am rowing forward all the way, but can’t always see what’s directly ahead.
Basically I have decided that there is no such thing as certainty. I was hoping for the ideals of my parents’ generation: solid career, a nice house in the suburbs, one job until retirement, and a pretty 401K to come home to someday. But that isn’t what life is. That isn’t what humanity is. That era was but a blip on the history of people’s lifestyles. And it certainly isn’t what life looks like for marginalized people. I decided it’s more important to get out there and try to make the world a better place by working towards a world where each person feels valued and important. I mean. After I die, what is there? Regardless of religious beliefs, I can’t take my nice house in the suburbs with me. I can’t take my 401K with me. All I can do is try to touch some people on this planet with love and respect and hope it makes a difference. That is the meaning of life: kindness.
This has been a difficult week for all of us, on both sides of the political fence. Many people are hurting and afraid. Listen to them. Just listen. And then hold their hands and tell them that they are valuable and important.
Love you, mamas.