Hold Onto Hope
I have a troubled mind...a troubled soul...but...
Crossing America with all my senses being hit upon. Taking in people, places, food, and things, and just absorbing the content and then distilling it into some sort of mixture that can be described.
Making me weep are the rulings by The Supreme Court of The United States (SCOTUS) to remove a constitutional right that allowed women to have an abortion. We knew this was going to happen because a month or so ago the opinion was leaked. We knew it probably would happen due to the conservative make-up of the SCOTUS. (Note: More to come on the climate and SCOTUS as the week goes on)
The gun situation is still not being managed. You all know that.
We all hoped for common sense and evolutionary thinking from these judges. Alas, this is about power and religion and politics and so far away from public health. This right has been taken away from women and in about half of the states of this here Union, it will be illegal for women to seek a termination.
Some have already had laws implemented, like Missouri, which will only allow termination when the Mothers life is endangered.
I grew up in New York which was the first state to legalize abortion. I took it for granted that this would always be the case and in 1973, 3 years later I felt this was locked in and would never change. Here we are 49 years later, and it has been removed as a right.Â
You can read this article and if you have time read more about the Turnaway Study in books and online if you so desire. Â Simply, it follows women who made the choice and how their lives have turned out.
https://www.newyorker.com/books/under-review/the-study-that-debunks-most-anti-abortion-argument
Keep breathing…..deeply.
Personally, I have been involved with this freedom of choice in my life and I know that although the decisions to terminate are always difficult, I believe that my partner and I made the right decisions based on who we were at that time in our lives. We were young. How differently would my life have been if I had children at 19?Â
The tears and emotions of those days can be brought from my memory in a moment.
We know that this decision will endanger the lives, mental health, and livelihood of many women. This will change the lives of the men involved. This will cause more damage to this society.
This country is broken and cracked in so many places. From the city streets that have turned into tent cities, to homeless people being given one-way tickets to other places within and even outside of the USA, to the minimum wage being no longer a living wage, and the impact of the pandemic it is as simple as picking a scab on your knee.
America is bleeding very easily, and you don’t have to work hard to see the pain.
Hope is what we all hold onto wherever we live and love and breathe. Despair is rife and I do believe many people have landed in hopelessness. We have to fight hopelessness.
Change is the only constant. Humanity, the people of this nation, have to find a way forward with love and care and honesty and beliefs in what this country was built on. I don’t want or mean to sound Red/White and Blue, what I mean is that people have to find community and connection and understanding.
We have to move away from putting so much trust in our politicians and move forward with care and life-affirming actions in our lives. We can fight the beast within the paradigm that any country is faced with politically and we should continue to do so. That is morally correct.
Even more so is the feeling that we have to care and love and connect with our community and make it thrive with what will make that community a better place for all. This is where I battle with myself and what to do with the remainder of the years I have left with this body, this machine.
After visiting the Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, especially during this time, we all know the fight is never over. If we do not pay attention, certain groups will try to remove or restrict our rights.
We must always pay attention. Unfortunately, many areas of society around the world pay little attention to what is decided for them. People have become driven by holding onto what they have and ensuring they can have the basics like food and shelter. The basics easily could be provided to all by governments that actually cared for their populace.
122 billion dollars to build nuclear submarines for the Australian Navy? Seriously, I am sure many of you can think of how this money could be spent to improve the lives of the Australian people.
We are being attacked from within and submarines are not going to help.
I sound like a dreamer, but without dreams we are failures.
Please, keep dreaming, all of you.
Keep open to learning, may it never stop.
Keep loving with an open heart.xx
The only path from rock bottom is UP.