I’ve struggled for the past week and change over whether to post this. I started writing it the day after elections, because I felt as if, like the girl in the image, that my mouth had been sewn shut. (I REALLY needed my therapy session last week.) I rarely engaged in any political discussions throughout the election process, and refused to “unfriend” or stop talking to anyone who supported a different candidate. But felt that if I spoke my mind the way others did, those others wouldn’t be so understanding of my opinions, which differed from their own. But this is MY blog, MY platform. If I don’t feel free to express myself HERE, then I might as well shut down the site, because I will have allowed others to silence me. And that, I cannot allow. I must be true to ME.
I did a lot of research and soul-searching and praying over the final candidates. I believed (and still do) that neither of them were/are the best our country has to offer for its highest office. But I weighed my beliefs and convictions against their platforms, connections and histories, and made my decision. And I stand by it, though it may cause conflict. Even now, as I type this, my heart pounds, my hands shake and anxiety fills me, as I agonize over the effects this post will have. About half of my “friends” and connections are liberal; I’m conservative. Not ultra-conservative (after all, I believe that prostitution should be legalized and voted for medical marijuana in my state…pretty sure that puts me more toward center field), but moderately so. I’m tolerant of views not my own, even if I don’t agree or understand them, and try to be open-minded. I hope you’ve gotten to know me well enough to lend me the same courtesy.
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I am only me:
Jewish
Christian
white
female
woman
a survivor of child sex abuse
a writer
a poet
an editor
a traveler
conservative
lower middle-class
highly educated (multiple college degrees)
living with anxiety
and depression
and ocd.
I am only me:
a descendant of legal immigrants and indentured servants
a natural-born American citizen
prejudiced against illegals (why not come here LEGALLY? would YOU be happy if I snuck into YOUR country like a thief in the night and then tried to claim the same rights that YOU – a LEGAL citizen – enjoy?)
prejudiced against immigrants who refuse to assimilate and learn English – the official language of the U.S.A. (yes, keep your culture and language, but have some respect for your host country)
a mother
a single mother
of a son with ADHD, and ASD, and ODD
an American who believes in:
a strong and well-funded military
freedom of speech
freedom of the press
right to bear arms
innocent until proven guilty
protecting our borders against illegal immigration
a person who tries to make the best of things
a person who votes her conscience
rather than what the mainstream media tell her to vote
heterosexual, after choosing not to be homosexual or bisexual
open-minded
a loyal friend
tolerant, accepting of views not my own and people who do not look/dress/live like me
I am not:
mixed race
an illegal
Muslim
LGBTQ
black
liberal
poverty-stricken
a descendant of slaves.
I am not:
an advocate of abortion
a woman who has had an abortion (though one of my doctors advised that I should)
a skilled foreign worker (isn’t that what the EU is all about? why can’t we have the same restrictions here?)
hateful or a hater
racist
intolerant (unless you refuse to assimilate and learn English if you’re an immigrant to America – yes, keep your culture and language, but have some respect for your host country)
a degrader or a deplorable
a violent protestor
a fair-weather friend
xenophobic
homophobic
judgmental (unless you refuse to assimilate and learn English if you’re an immigrant to America – yes, keep your culture and language, but have some respect for your host country)
oppressive
offended by opinions, beliefs different from my own
I am only me:
am I of no value
because my opinions and beliefs
are different from yours?
I am only me:
afraid of speaking my truths
for fear of retribution
or losing networks and connections
I am only me
triggered
and oppressed
by your vitriol.
Where is my platform to speak my truths?
Where is the audience to hear my voice?
Pen and Keys 