Speak

In a world with diametrically opposing viewpoints - venom spewing from all sides of the court - it’s a wonder why anyone would want to speak, but at the same time, don’t we all need to speak? Celebrities take their platforms and influence their fans. Sometimes with great support, other times to their peril. Children, teens, and young adults push their narratives forward through social media and with our high speed information transit it reaches others before we blink our eyes. Those that speak are criticized for speaking and those that don’t speak are criticized for not speaking. You’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t. And really - what does it all mean?

Every ounce of “truth” or “learning” we gain comes from two things -

1. someone told us
2. we had an experience that taught us

If someone told us, where did they receive their information? Well, someone told them, or they experienced something that taught them. If someone told them, and let’s just say for this example school taught them, where did the information that the school gained to teach this come from? It came from a collective agreement of facts, whether facts that came from written accounts of an experience - such as history - or facts/data that came from math or science.

What happens in 20 years? A lot of times, those pieces of “truth” change. Wait a sec…what do you mean? How can truth change?

Truth changes when our facts get more facts that point to a different truth. Examples of this are - caffeine, sugar, alcohol - all were considered good for you or generally safe, then thought of as dangerous, then later considered beneficial - with limitation of course.

I remember in my youth hearing politics spewed as my family constantly debated for fun on Sunday afternoons. I didn’t understand much about much. I think I was all of 3 or 4. As I grew up into teen-age hood, I started discovering my own truths and principles that weren’t always in line with the majority that I was surrounded by, but I was also very interested in being a “good girl” so I rarely spoke up about much…until my “rite of passage” as I like to call it.

I went to California for pilot season - it was 1995. I had experiences that changed and shaped my political views and thoughts for decades to come. Everything in Cali at that time felt like a 90s version of what I’d heard the 60s to be like. There was weed paraphernalia sold in every shop along the beach - modern day hippies in every direction - sexual expression a thing of the norm not something to hide away. It was mesmerizing to say the least.

In order to keep up with school back home, I did a tutoring home school program that didn't serve me well in one of my classes. My mom found out about an alternative school that would work with me and my curriculum back home, but would also let me be in all the other classes with the other students and learn what they were learning there.

This school was surreal. You could be whatever you wanted to be there. They didn’t care if you wore short shorts, or wore makeup, or had to leave for an audition. And the kids there were all tough…or at least they were through my southern eyes. Most kids had tattoos and piercings, several were openly gay, and everyone was definitely more comfortable with themselves than I even knew was possible. Back home, I didn’t know anyone who was homosexual (or at least open about it) and I also had been taught by society that it was less than human or bad. As God does, He introduced a person to me who not only became my closest friend at the school, but someone who would forever remain in my heart whether we were in touch or not. 
Zeke was his name - he was gay - and I didn’t even know it for like a month until he said, “You know I’m gay don’t you?” I was surprised. Not because he was gay and I didn’t know it, but because he was gay and I didn’t know it. We were the same in so many ways, had similar thoughts, had similar stresses, had normal teen angst. He was human, he was normal, he was my friend. The aspect of his sexual orientation didn’t make him humanly different. This sent a fire of desire to speak out back home and fight for equal rights. Why would someone’s sexual orientation cause them to be denied of human rights? Why would someone’s sex cause them to be denied of human rights for that matter? And why would someone’s skin color cause them to be denied of human rights even more for that matter. Of course we’d come so far in the sex and race rights that I knew speaking out could be the start, even at my young age, no platform, and lots of opposition, to bringing forth change. Then my friend and any others could feel safe just like me. So I did it. I wrote the paper when I got back to Texas. I had hoped my writing would fall on the heart of more that read it, but I was met with a lot of concern and funny looks. I didn’t care - this was the new me. Draw weed on everything I owned even though I’d never touched it, fight for human rights, and put a disco ball in my room so I could veg out to the Cranberries and Enigma.

I spent the next several years of my life doing two things, rebelling and trying to look like a good girl while doing it. Very confusing, but southern pleasing is hard to erase. I thought being a democrat meant women’s rights, gay rights, and legalizing marijuana. So I declared myself as a democrat, much to the dismay of many family members. I stayed in this line of thinking - never researching or trying to understand exactly what the party believed. Just knew I stood for those 3 things, and so I must be a lefty.

Then another long time friend threw a wrench in all of my naive thinking. He said that the Republican Party actually believes in less government control and more freedom to the people. He took me down a history lesson that I only partially retained. I learned how at one point the beliefs of each party actually switched, and then I learned that fiscally the republican party was the better of the two and democrats were the money suckers. So here I stood - now I had to make a decision…which way do I go? I don’t like one side of republican and I don’t like the other side of democrat - so how do I navigate this? Then I just became the swinging monkey, drifting from vine to vine - declaring my views one day and then changing them the next. I felt passionate, yet never enough to actually go and learn on my own. In fact the process seemed miserable - and honestly still does to this day.

What next? After realizing that I would never be able to agree on a party line I learned I was not ever going to vote based on party - but only on the least worst person running that hopefully was for the most important view I had at the time. It was the best I could do. The thing is, I’m still grateful I did this. I’m grateful I’m not identifying with a party because I’m not fighting my core beliefs by siding all the way down even if I only really believe in a few. But I’ll tell ya, I secretly judged everyone else that did. As if I was the one who knew better and everyone else was just a follower. Celebrities would speak out against a nominee and I would think - man I wish they’d stop abusing their platform. They don’t even really know what they are talking about.

I started blogging a few years ago. Mainly about my experiences and feelings, but I’ve always been pretty careful to stay as pc as possible. That’s the way, right? It’s funny, recently I went back to read all of the pieces that are there. Each one shaped from the perception of my experiences and influences that surrounded me at the time. Some feelings have changed, some have grown, some remain the same. The one thing I know is that I may have new beliefs today based on new information brought to my attention, but I don’t regret being me with the information I had at the time. I can tell you, I’m going to get it wrong a lot, I’m going to be persuaded the wrong direction, I’m going to offend someone by doing and offend someone by not. I think the same of celebrities now. They have the right to their opinion, and they have a right to speak up wherever they want, just like you. It’s our job to fact check before we make our decisions. I have more respect now for people who stand for what they believe than those that just try to be agreeable...me included. But standing up for what you believe in doesn't mean putting down someone else, causing physical harm, or shaming them. We don’t have to agree with anyone. We don’t have to disagree with anyone. All we have to do is recognize that truth is based off facts and experiences that are perceived differently depending on the lens you look at them or experience them through. But while we make our opinions known - or fight passionately for the causes, we should remember we don’t know everything - we only know what we’re told. We do know from experience that not everyone can be trusted with giving all the information so that we can make informed decisions. We do know that sometimes we get new information that leads us to a new truth. We do know that there is not one human that is better than another. We are all equal no matter what the laws reflect or don’t reflect. The laws can make things equitable but no matter what they do or don’t do, all humans are the same in God’s eyes. I believe we should do things to help make things equitable to humans that have been overlooked in past decisions. I do think we should do things to help our neighbor, no matter who they are. I do know I don’t have all the answers, nor do I know the path to making those things happen in a government way, but I know we can do it on our own without the government. We can help others through organizations, charities, non-violent activist groups. We can be the solution that doesn’t require pork to get it into action. And we can speak our truth as we know it today and we can have a new truth later once we learn more.

Thinking differently is good for all of us. It’s good to hear oppositional points of view. It’s good to be open to understanding the challenges we face in order to make dreams come true. It’s good to be open to hearing a vision of how something could be. It’s good to debate - respectfully. Hate has no place and brings nothing but more hate. Violence only ignites more violence. The more we open our eyes, the more value we see in others. Challenge yourself to be persuaded and don’t judge yourself if you get something wrong. Wrong really is just the stepping stone to getting something right. Even if it takes a lifetime. Ideate, iterate, problem solve, start again.

So I guess what I’m saying is….speak.