I can handle ignorance.
I can do it.
I grew up most of my life ignorant of the world around me... and now I am making up for lost time. Before traveling, before experiencing, before REALIZING, that yes people.. other countries seriously survive without their freaking police force carrying around loaded weapons 24 hours a day... what the heck.. I think back now about all of the things I didn't know. About how I grew up thinking 'I live in the USA.. home of freedom.. I am lucky because WE have freedom.. much more than other countries do.' BULL... I know I know, I need to be thankful for what I have, for my country.. and I AM.. I AM.. however, we are NOT the only country that has freedoms.
Talking to my new Vietnamese buddy Cu, about how grateful he was for being able to have 'freedom' in America as compared to what he would have had to of endured in Vietnam.. I realize that we were both lucky to have lived/grown up in America. I do, and I'm very thankful. I'm also thankful for free speech.
I'm not saying I 'know' everything nowadays, please don't think I'm being pretentious... but I know a heck of a lot more than I used to... and I live far away from America now, this is my way of taking part in social issues that I think are just-plain-wrong!
But it is just hard.. HARD.. for me to realize and understand that the government officials in my country want to take rights away from me because I'm a woman. That they think, that they can tell me what is right and what is wrong for my body. That just because I'm a woman, and I make less than the average man, I need more time off because of the babies that I will produce for/because of men, that because my insurance will cost more than a man older than me who is a chain smoker, allll because I'm a woman... IS NOT OKAY. You cannot take away my rights. You cannot tell me what is good or bad for my body, when a physician has ok'd these practices for the past 30+ years... when I should be able to make the decision for myself to be a responsible adult and prevent myself from having 2 week long periods, from becoming pregnant, from being taken advantage of and then expected to carry a baby for 9 months. NO THANK YOU. I want to be a responsible adult and you want to call me a whore. I'm sorry, but MANY people who are married cannot afford to have children and therefore rely on the government and the taxpayers' money to take care of their family.... allll because some conservatives think that 'WOMEN' who use birth controls are whores and need to be controlled. Maybe that couple was not ready to have children, does this mean they should not have sex?! The Bible says 'Voila... You are married in holy matrimony... go forth and multiply'.. does that make it relevant to today's world?! NO... I'm sorry, but if everyone who was married continuously had babies.. where would we put them all?! How could we feed them all?! You believe in other types of medicine to control your body, why doesn't this count...?
I'm done. I'm tired of women not standing up for themselves. I'm tired of the bullies who say that women shouldn't be in control of their bodies, 'the government and FDA know what is best for you'. I'm sick of women being put on the back burner so that men can continue rising up the corporate and social ladder. .. I mean, please.. by all means boys, let me step aside and have YOUR child so that you can keep rising up to the top.. don't worry about me, I'll take maternity leave and cross my fingers that I won't lose my job the second time I get knocked up accidentally. I'm sure you'd rather us watch you from a few rungs down, add on a few dollars here and a few dollars there because we have more parts that need to be taken care of, because we tend to take care of ourselves more and go to regular check-ups at the doctor, we like to see a doctor regularly to be sure that everything is in working order and our bodies are ready and prepared to give the perfect home to our off-spring whom we nurture and take care of for 9 months inside of our bodies.
I'm not saying that I don't want to become pregnant. I DO. I can't wait to become a mother.. however I CAN wait, because I want to be ready emotionally and physically. But I don't think it's fair that 9 times out of 10 when a teenage GIRL gets knocked-up (of course the guy never gets knocked up.. he does his deed, then unless he is publicly pointed out, no one ever suspects HIM of being a whore) she is ridiculed, she is looked upon as someone who should have known better, she is now responsible for a precious life whom she will give her everything for and if she is lucky the boy will stick around and support her post-pregnancy. It's not fair that women are the ones constantly carrying the burden, or worried about carrying a burden. It's true.. women worry a lot.. there's a reason people!!
Women DO work while they are 9 months pregnant. I have seen women work PAST their due dates at a busy restaurant in order to be sure they can feed their child when he/she arrives and to give them a suitable home when they arrive onto the earth. I think that after a woman has gone through 9 months of pregnancy and decides that they would like to go on birth control because they need to ensure they can make a living and properly take care of their family.. she should have the right to it, and the insurance coverage she is paying for monthly should support her on that. I mean come on now, that has to be WAY cheaper than caring for 3 times the children in the coming years. After all "men have needs and natural urges", right?! I'm sure women have heard that a time or TEN... from their husbands, from their boyfriends, from the person they don't know who is forcing themselves onto them.. women have THE RIGHT to protect themselves AND their lives without being called whores and sluts.
Stand up for us. You love your mother.. your mom would do ANYTHING for you.. you lived inside her. She has PERSONALLY taken care of you within her womb, give her the credit and the decency to make her own decisions about her own body. We aren't stupid. We want to be able to make responsible decisions.
And speaking of decisions. I am SICK of local governments making decisions for 'their people'. A man shoots a boy and you aren't even going to confiscate his weapon while the investigation is underway?! You DON'T have enough evidence after a 911 call was recorded with an operator specifically saying, 'DO NOT FOLLOW HIM SIR!" and he does it anyways, gets into a confrontation, and shoots the kid?! ... come on Florida... you're gonna get caught doing dirty deeds.
If we would QUIT focusing on votes and pleasing the majority.. and focus on PEOPLE.. maaaaybe we could get somewhere. We are individuals. We have needs. WE are united together as one. We do not have a mandatory language, we do not have a mandatory religion, STOP controlling and START believing in us. Believe it or not, I think we could survive without you. We are strong people, we are learning from our past and present actions. We have feelings. We are not puppets, and we don't want to be treated that way.
I DON'T want to be treated that way. I don't want to live in fear that someone will shoot me because everyone and their cousin can buy a firearm. I don't want to live in fear that the medical attention I need will put me in debt for the rest of my life. I know what is out there, I know that not every country is perfect. But I BELIEVE in America. I BELIEVE that our government can do a better job. That OUR government who was in place to take care of us has over the generations taken advantage of every possible thing it was able to, until we have spun out of control. We can regain control, all we need is faith.
We need to be able to believe again. We need to be trusted. We need to stand, unite and l-o-v-e!
I fully support the occupy movement, and hope it regains strength.. let's get rid of the 'big business' mentality and corrupt government offices!
BEST post ever!!! I you!
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