I woke up this morning to send a tweet. A nice tweet. Instead, I am sitting here with my head in my hands and feeling the need to write. I am so enraged with our world. I feel the weight of being a mother. I feel the weight of an opportunity to say what I believe and show my son what it means to not just stand up for yourself but for others when they are wronged. I don’t do politics. I don’t enjoy them, but this is no longer political.
Sitting here in front of the computer, reading twitter, watching news stream in I was in shock and awe. My head in my hands. This cannot be our world? This cannot be where we live? This cannot be where I am raising a child? How is it that we are watching people waving confederate flags and Nazi regime flags in the streets America in 2017?! Not to mention how is it that our President cannot clearly state how wrong this is? What is happening? All in the same breathe, how are we surprised?
My gosh I don’t have answers. I have very few. I have a lot of anger and I will tell you I will not be among the silent that are white, Christian, middle class, and watching it all happen. Change will never happen if people such as myself do not speak up and say this isn’t me, this isn’t us, and this isn’t okay. I have too many loved ones. Too many friends I dearly want to stand up for and I believe we as a group can do the most good to say I DO NOT stand for this. I don’t care your political feelings or if you think this doesn’t belong here. I am saying this because one day, my son will ask me how I responded to this during this time in our history and I want him to know I wrote this and said I won’t stand for it. I want him to know that I used my reach of nearly a million followers to say that there is no place for this kind of hate in our country and we will NOT stand for it for even half a breath. I want my friends of Color that are Gay, that are Muslim, that are Jewish, that are Lesbian who might be knowledgeable of all pride flags, that are Trans, that are different than me in any way to know that I will stand for them because I believe our differences are what makes the world beautiful.
I don’t know how to fix this hate and I don’t have answers, but I want everyone that reads this space to know that we NEVER will sit silent about things like this. We will lead by example for our son that there is no tolerance for hate, ridicule, or acceptance for people who inflict pain on others.
Yesterday, I was so upset and distraught about what to say about everything and had no idea how to REALLY respond. So I reached out to Roe Cummings (our contributor this month) who I knew I could be open, vulnerable, and real with me about my struggle. She listened to me, gave me the space to ask some hard questions, and really heard me. In response, she gave me back the words and thoughts I was trying to find within myself. She told me “Megan, you do not need to give an answer, sometimes a question is as good as an answer.” She was right and she told me I was asking myself over and over “What is love and how do I stand for it?” She cleared it all away. She changed me. She heard me. It was powerful.
That said, I do not believe in hate. I will forever fight against it. This space is about love, living a life you love, and ANYTHING that takes that away from someone will be something I stand up against.
Any hateful or negative comments will be removed because we do not accept that here. Not in the past or in the future.
Also, if you missed Roe contributing post this week, READ IT! She is amazing.
