Soon we will be given the opportunity to once again exercise our right to vote. This is especially meaningful to me because I only recently gained the ability to vote according to my conscience. Having been part of a strict fundamentalist community, I believed that to vote differently than my husband was a sin. The sect that I followed… View Post
As a human being, I have value. And as hard as it is for me to consider, the man who raped me also has value; so does his wife, their children, and their grandchildren. There is so much pain on every side of a situation like this, and I think it is worth taking a moment to pause and simply listen.
I watch as woman after woman pulls herself up by her bootstraps, and does whatever is necessary to make sure the kids are fed, the bills are paid, and they have a place to rest their head at night.
I knew the phrases with which her mind taunted her over the years. “Your body is not worthy of beautiful clothing.” “You will only be beautiful when there is less of you.” “What will people think?”
I’d never seen people dance in real life. Dancing was a forbidden activity that I had been told would lead to pregnancy. I stood in a corner, nervously clutching a bag of Corn Bugles.
The instant I saw them, I recoiled. In anger I thought, “Why are they here? Have they come to gloat over our dead?”