My friends.
Today has been a terrible, no good, very bad day.
Today, I woke up with a feeling of dread and rage. Because yesterday, our President was sworn in, and what happened next has been a whirlwind of fury and fear. I won't list everything that came out of that man's mouth, or all the tricks he's pulling with his executive orders. I'll summarize it by saying- it has never been clearer to me that he does not care about any other human being unless they are fellow rich, white man.
And therefore, this morning, I woke up irritated. As I did my morning scroll, I became even more irritated as I saw people posting about their morning smoothies and not the same pure RAGE that I was feeling.
I made a post on Facebook saying so and quickly got comments from people sharing that they too were full of rage but didn't quite have the words yet, or were trying to process, or didn't think their posts would do much to change anything. I got a text from someone stating they didn't feel safe posting, because their family members wouldn't welcome that.
So my perspective began to change. I did some deep self-reflection on my attitude, my words, my reaction. Why, Megan. Why are you so angry?
And I think there are many reasons why. But I do believe what it boils down to is that the same political party who yells that "all lives matter" are the same ones telling those in the LGBTQIA community that actually, they don't matter. I'm mad that we're told in this country, we can be anything. But we actually can't, not if you are an immigrant or queer.
The choices that this President is making are going to hurt people. They are going to hurt the most vulnerable and marginalized people. And that is why I am so mad. Because it isn't right, and it certainly isn't Christian. The hypocrisy is loud.
The natural response to people is "get involved. Speak up". I am involved. I do speak up. I contact my legislators on the regular. I donate to organizations doing the work. But damn it, I am going to keep going at it. Because this is not the country that I know. This is not the country where dreams come true. If we do not believe that every single individual has a right to freedom, to healthcare, to basic human rights, then we cannot say that we believe all lives matter.
So, Megan, do you hate Trump supporters? No, I don't hate you. I am heartbroken by you. You have put the empty promise of lower grocery prices and a better economy over basic human rights. You have let hate win. And if you claim that you are not a hateful person, or that you love everyone. But I ask you, do your actions support that sentence? Or are you silent as trans and gender nonbinary folk are told they are not valid and should not exist in our world?
I know this post has been all over the place. My head is spinning. and I have to get a grip on what I do next. Do I stop posting on social media? I don't know, because I want to keep being a voice and leveraging important issues. I am going to take a few days off to consider this.
In the meantime,.... if you are feeling the same way I am and want to talk, I'd love that. One of the things that gets me through these dark days is knowing I am not alone.
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