Respect Is Important
“Speak only when you feel that your words are better than your silence.”
Sarah’s Wedding
This is one of those times when I feel I have to speak up and say what I’m thinking. I don’t write a post like this very often and last time I did, some people stopped following, but so be it. This is one of those times when I feel that my words are better than my silence. It’s who I am and I’m writing out of concern and love. I know that my tribe will stick with me.
I usually pride myself on not watching television, but I have not been able to pull myself away for the past two days. I have watched the hearings on Judge Kavanaugh and I am sickened. As a woman from the same generation, I can say that I grew up in a time when so much more was accepted as “normal”…meaning “boys will be boys”. This is not acceptable and I know, without telling my story here, that these attitudes have kept women from coming forward with their stories for many years. When you feel unimportant, sometimes invisible, “not as good as”, or when you simply want to be loved, but don’t know exactly what love is supposed to feel like, these situations can be confusing. You blame yourself, you don’t think you’ll be believed, you just want to get over things, or you’re just plain scared, not to mention embarrassed, to come out with your story.
My question is…why in the world would an educated, accomplished woman with a life, subject herself to so much criticism, turmoil and just plain pain and suffering if she weren’t telling the truth. Sexual abuse and violence isn’t something you just get over. When your body is violated, it affects your heart and your soul and therefore it affects your life for many years to come. Women are strong and we go on and most of us are able to carve out lives that have so much beauty and love in spite of what we’ve been through. Our past, however, can affect our decisions and that can be good or bad. When you live with fear and insecurity, and that’s what happens when you’ve been violated, it’s hard to live a totally authentic life. It is time for women to be able to speak up and tell their truth without being told that they have an ulterior motive. It’s time for our society to truly be equal. My daughters are worried that their reproductive health care will be compromised, that their rights will be compromised and it is a valid concern with the way things are going in this country. Women matter…and for the most part, hold our society together with love and compassion. Let’s support each other and when a woman is brave enough to come out and tell her story, let’s believe her because speaking up is not an easy thing to do. #metoo is a real thing.
There is so much more I could say. I will end by saying that I don’t believe Christine Blasey Ford had a political motive. She just wanted to do what she felt was the right thing. I believe that we (this country) could find someone else to be a supreme court judge…someone that would bring us together instead of tearing us apart. What is wrong with that? My prayer is that the world will be a kinder place as my daughters and grandchildren get older. People are people and respect is important, period.