Speaking Out
I have had several people chastise me for being political, especially when I am dying and should be choosing to "celebrate life, not complain about it."
What? You TRULY do not know me, do you? I will not shut up and you will never be able to make me. Nobody puts baby in a corner nor me either. I have also been told that I am a fraud. That I want everyone to speak out but only if they agree with me. Sorry. Get a more logical argument.
I don't care if you agree with me or not. I would PREFER if you did, but if you don't....you don't. What pisses me off is when you have a differing argument but can't properly defend it. Go ahead and have a different way of looking at things. Just don't run in with the intent to hurt someone or belittle someone and expect me to celebrate you. I won't.
I don't mind dissent. In fact, I love to debate. And I love to debate because I educate myself. I don't hold an opinion and not be able to defend it....mightily. I am guilty of occasionally enjoying wiping the floor with another person if they left their intelligence at the door. This has lessened as death has chosen a seat closer to me. I no longer like to go for the jugular. But, I do insist on defending my point and I will make you scramble for words. I just don't enjoy it anymore.
But, you know what REALLY gets my goat? When people tell me that I should just sit quietly like a proper granny. I will NOT sit on my opinions. And neither should you. Not in the world that we live in now.
I am a believer in a woman's right to choose. But, I struggle with it. And I admit it. I came to this decision by no easy route. I listen to those who fight for their right to speak out against abortion. And I find it compelling. It makes a certain sense to me. So, I can't debate as well as I would like to do on that subject. In fact, I admire those who have fiery opinions about it or any others, as long as they have thought deeply about this. And I find that many have.
What I don't admire are women who go around protecting the rights of the unborn but scream their support for a wall. Or who watch videos of children DYING in front of cameras on street benches...taking 14 hours to do so after pleading for help. And they are not moved. Or watching babies being taken from their crying parent's arms. These are children. Babies. Every bit a baby as your unborn. Yet, you look at them with either unfeeling eyes ("Their parents were asking for that." Hmmm. How about the pregnant parents of the unborn?? A baby is a baby is a baby. Use your brain.)
I also am sort of sickened by women especially, who say insipid things like, "Well, that's boy talk for ya!" when faced with Donald Trump's famous words about grabbing a woman's "pussy" because he is a celebrity. Seriously? Is that how your son talks and if he does, do you beam with joy? Or indifference? Maybe you'd be ok with Trump talking like that and sitting next to your granddaughter? Or when he admitted that he went after a married woman ("I went after her like a bitch.") Ok. Let's let him sit next to your (very pretty) married daughter. Not to worry if she's fat, though. He refers to those women as "piggies." Or "not tens, not even close and I only like 8 1/2 and up." Maybe you think this is ok, although funny how you didn't think it was ok when Bill Clinton was cavorting with an intern. Then, you were scandalized. Guess it is easier to turn your head now, huh?
And please spare me the FB articles about how you are so pained by the way everyone is going after Donald Trump. Wasn't that you sitting at a table with me and talking about how much you detested Obama? Or how embarrassed you were about Michelle Obama's cleavage in that dress she wore to that party? Guess it doesn't faze you about a naked Melania licking a whip.
But, let's stop talking about petty things and get to politics. Let's talk about foreign relations or the deficit. What? You don't really have an opinion about these things? Or.....are you just too lazy to educate yourself about it? Because listen up. I have terminal cancer and I found the time and fortitude to read up on it. Want to debate? I didn't think so.
How about the constitution? This is an easy one. It is right there at our fingertips. Hmm. Except it isn't really doing your fella any favors, is it? Ok.
I am speaking up because I have watched my country go from being that shining city on a hill that Reagan spoke about to a laughingstock of the world. I have seen white supremacy take a giant leap. I have seen bigotry come snaking out of dark corners and watched in horror as you sat there pretending that it is nothing. Or worse, getting ANGRY when I point it out and acting like I am embarrassing you because I talk about it while you won't. Or can't. Because you are a part of it now.
I will not shut up. I will not use my last days on this beautiful planet talking about some party I attended. Ok....maybe I will. Because we all need to talk about some parties. Some parties are too good to NOT talk about. But, I will bring uncomfortable subjects to the front and center. You can mute me, hide me, if you must. I know how hard it is to look at sometimes, too.
Sometimes cancer is of good use. No one wants to be that person who talks smack to a dying person. Better to talk about it behind their back, huh? Coward.
I am itching to debate you. But, I probably won't. I do have manners. And I do know it is mean to best someone who is simply uneducated. So, I will keep doing my thing and you will pretend that I am wrong and you are so above it all, having to watch me laying it all on the table like that.
History will prove me right. Unfortunately, I won't be here to see it. You will. Just have a little class and admit that you were wrong, won't you?
Dig deep and promise me that, won't you? Or do some thinking. Do some homework. GOOD homework. Not looking at publications that only have a 42% accuracy rating. (You know who they are....you sure quote them a lot....)
Education rocks. Or, it used to when we were that beautiful shining city on the hill.
"America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere." Ronald Reagan.
What? You TRULY do not know me, do you? I will not shut up and you will never be able to make me. Nobody puts baby in a corner nor me either. I have also been told that I am a fraud. That I want everyone to speak out but only if they agree with me. Sorry. Get a more logical argument.
I don't care if you agree with me or not. I would PREFER if you did, but if you don't....you don't. What pisses me off is when you have a differing argument but can't properly defend it. Go ahead and have a different way of looking at things. Just don't run in with the intent to hurt someone or belittle someone and expect me to celebrate you. I won't.
I don't mind dissent. In fact, I love to debate. And I love to debate because I educate myself. I don't hold an opinion and not be able to defend it....mightily. I am guilty of occasionally enjoying wiping the floor with another person if they left their intelligence at the door. This has lessened as death has chosen a seat closer to me. I no longer like to go for the jugular. But, I do insist on defending my point and I will make you scramble for words. I just don't enjoy it anymore.
But, you know what REALLY gets my goat? When people tell me that I should just sit quietly like a proper granny. I will NOT sit on my opinions. And neither should you. Not in the world that we live in now.
I am a believer in a woman's right to choose. But, I struggle with it. And I admit it. I came to this decision by no easy route. I listen to those who fight for their right to speak out against abortion. And I find it compelling. It makes a certain sense to me. So, I can't debate as well as I would like to do on that subject. In fact, I admire those who have fiery opinions about it or any others, as long as they have thought deeply about this. And I find that many have.
What I don't admire are women who go around protecting the rights of the unborn but scream their support for a wall. Or who watch videos of children DYING in front of cameras on street benches...taking 14 hours to do so after pleading for help. And they are not moved. Or watching babies being taken from their crying parent's arms. These are children. Babies. Every bit a baby as your unborn. Yet, you look at them with either unfeeling eyes ("Their parents were asking for that." Hmmm. How about the pregnant parents of the unborn?? A baby is a baby is a baby. Use your brain.)
I also am sort of sickened by women especially, who say insipid things like, "Well, that's boy talk for ya!" when faced with Donald Trump's famous words about grabbing a woman's "pussy" because he is a celebrity. Seriously? Is that how your son talks and if he does, do you beam with joy? Or indifference? Maybe you'd be ok with Trump talking like that and sitting next to your granddaughter? Or when he admitted that he went after a married woman ("I went after her like a bitch.") Ok. Let's let him sit next to your (very pretty) married daughter. Not to worry if she's fat, though. He refers to those women as "piggies." Or "not tens, not even close and I only like 8 1/2 and up." Maybe you think this is ok, although funny how you didn't think it was ok when Bill Clinton was cavorting with an intern. Then, you were scandalized. Guess it is easier to turn your head now, huh?
And please spare me the FB articles about how you are so pained by the way everyone is going after Donald Trump. Wasn't that you sitting at a table with me and talking about how much you detested Obama? Or how embarrassed you were about Michelle Obama's cleavage in that dress she wore to that party? Guess it doesn't faze you about a naked Melania licking a whip.
But, let's stop talking about petty things and get to politics. Let's talk about foreign relations or the deficit. What? You don't really have an opinion about these things? Or.....are you just too lazy to educate yourself about it? Because listen up. I have terminal cancer and I found the time and fortitude to read up on it. Want to debate? I didn't think so.
How about the constitution? This is an easy one. It is right there at our fingertips. Hmm. Except it isn't really doing your fella any favors, is it? Ok.
I am speaking up because I have watched my country go from being that shining city on a hill that Reagan spoke about to a laughingstock of the world. I have seen white supremacy take a giant leap. I have seen bigotry come snaking out of dark corners and watched in horror as you sat there pretending that it is nothing. Or worse, getting ANGRY when I point it out and acting like I am embarrassing you because I talk about it while you won't. Or can't. Because you are a part of it now.
I will not shut up. I will not use my last days on this beautiful planet talking about some party I attended. Ok....maybe I will. Because we all need to talk about some parties. Some parties are too good to NOT talk about. But, I will bring uncomfortable subjects to the front and center. You can mute me, hide me, if you must. I know how hard it is to look at sometimes, too.
Sometimes cancer is of good use. No one wants to be that person who talks smack to a dying person. Better to talk about it behind their back, huh? Coward.
I am itching to debate you. But, I probably won't. I do have manners. And I do know it is mean to best someone who is simply uneducated. So, I will keep doing my thing and you will pretend that I am wrong and you are so above it all, having to watch me laying it all on the table like that.
History will prove me right. Unfortunately, I won't be here to see it. You will. Just have a little class and admit that you were wrong, won't you?
Dig deep and promise me that, won't you? Or do some thinking. Do some homework. GOOD homework. Not looking at publications that only have a 42% accuracy rating. (You know who they are....you sure quote them a lot....)
Education rocks. Or, it used to when we were that beautiful shining city on the hill.
"America is a shining city upon a hill whose beacon light guides freedom-loving people everywhere." Ronald Reagan.
It always helps me to remember that it wasn't Reagan who wrote those words. He was quoting John Winthrop in "A Model of Christian Charity" delivered to the shipload of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Kennedy quoted it before Reagan.
ReplyDeleteSara Vowell has a refreshing take on this in "The Wordy Shipmates" where she calls Winthrop's version of the "City on a Hill" as Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" to Reagan's Whitney Houston version. Winthrop wrote it and delivered it first, but Reagan got the pop culture impact.
She also writes of Winthrop's address which asks the travellers to bind their fortunes together.
"We must delight in each other, make others' conditions our own;
rejoice together, mourn together, labor, and suffer together — always having
before our eyes our commission and community in the work, our community as
members of the same body "
Makes Winthrop almost sound like a socialist!
Thank you for your comment. I DID know that Reagan was not the first to say these words, but I did not know that Kennedy did as well. And I need some interesting reading, so I will take a gander at Vowell.
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