OK, friends. Here goes. I’ve got some things on my mind and, well, I also have a blog. And if that isn’t a good reason to just let it all hang out on a Friday afternoon, I don’t know what is.
So, let’s just jump right in, shall we?
*Disclaimer: I am not an expert on any of these topics. I have opinions just like you do and, while I’d love it if you agree with me about everthing, I am grown-up enough to know that that might not be the case. I hope we can respect each other enough to allow each other our own thoughts and encounter each other with grace.
The Government Shutdown
(Nothing like jumping straight into the deep end, amiright?!)
For the love, people! What in the holy heck is going on in Washington?! Everybody needs to just put their big kid pants on and learn to compromise. This is getting ridiculous. The bigwigs can argue about walls, no walls, the State of the Union and whatever else until they are blue in the face, but I honestly think they are forgetting that real American citizens are being shafted in this whole process. The stories I’ve read/watched/heard about federal workers going without pay, selling their belongings on eBay, standing in line at soup kitchens, not being able to pay their rent or mortgage? Not to mention the way our national parks are going straight to hell in a handbasket or our food, drug, and transportation safety is being compromised. All of this should make the House, the Senate, and everyone at the White House absolutely ashamed of themselves.
When I was a little girl, my sister and I shared a room. We had this little cross-stitched thing in a frame that said “Sisters make the best of friends.” On more than one occasion when we absolutely could not get along with each other, my mom would come in and take that sweet needlepoint out of our room. It broke our hearts! We worked so hard to get it back. Trying to get along better, we’d go out of our way to be nice and share.
Maybe moms should head to DC! Maybe we should take down all of the “one nation under God” and “all men are created equal” and “e pluribus unum” stuff we can find and tell our esteemed government they can’t have any of it back until they can show us that they can work together and get along.
The Gillette Razor Ad
If you haven’t seen what I’m talking about, take a look here.
OK, here’s the deal. I’ve seen people praising this ad to the high heavens and I’ve seen debate about how controversial it is. And I get it.
To the people who praise that ad, I say this: Yes. Praise the ad. It’s a wonderful example of how toxic masculinity (masculinity that gains power by hurting, harming, or placing itself higher than others who are different) has become pervasive in our society. And it calls all men to be better; to be, in their own words, “the best a man can get.” So, yeah! You go, Gillette! But maybe stop using sex to sell your razors, OK? Double standards aren’t cool.
And to those who are up in arms thinking it tears men down, here’s what I say. Let this advertisement serve as a reminder of the authentic masculinity all men are called to. That men should use their place in society to affirm women, protect and defend them when necessary, and regard them as equal in dignity. And it doesn’t make a man “wussy” or “unmanly” to decry the boys will be boys mentality when it comes to bullying and misogyny.
So there you go.
The March for Life
Let me be really honest and say that conflict makes me queasy. I also have a very deep desire to make people happy. All the people. Even people I don’t know. So, you can imagine that I am really in no way, shape, or form an activist. I will not be marching for pretty much anything, anytime, anywhere.
However…
The March for Life is so important. There is a culture of death in our country that will not even be able to begin to remedy itself while we still think it is OK (even if we can all agree it is undesirable) for a woman to kill her own child. Period. Life is not always easy, children are not always wanted or expected. The situations surrounding a child’s conception can be positively horrifying. But science has proven again and again that the life…the person…the body that grows inside a woman is not her life. She should not be able to make the decision whether that life should continue or end any more than she should make the decision about my life or yours.
Mother and child are inextricably connected always, and never moreso than in the early stages of pregnancy. I have four children. But my sons…were not me. My daughters…were not me. Those three little souls whose bodies I never got to hold in my arms…were not me. Their lives, their bodies are and were their own.
So, no. I won’t be marching. But if I were, that would be why.
So, Thanks for Coming to my TED Talk!
That’s the tagline now, right? Anywho…
OK, kids. I hope that was pretty painless. I feel better having gotten that off of my chest. Have a great weekend and I’d love to hear your response to what I’ve had to say! Just please remember to be gracious. Or I’ll have to come take down the needlepoint sampler and nobody wants that to happen!
