A LONG ROAD AHEAD...

11/10/16

I’ve always just been me. I couldn’t help but be me. I’ve tried fitting into a box someone else designed for me. That was an unmitigated disaster. I’ve been lied to about my career. To be honest I never really gave much thought to how stacked the deck was against a woman or even a little girl until I saw how ostracized I would become because I dared speak my mind. Or embraced how smart I was.

How difficult it was because I was so smart, yet so emotional. How I wanted to be loved and respected when women were lucky in a man’s world to receive one or the other but not both. So when I do receive both it is a beautiful thing.

When it comes to proving yourself in the workplace we, as women know, we are pigeon holed into certain arenas. And if we are not “nice” enough or “pretty enough” or “thin enough” on top of already doing 2x the workload of a by default setting of a man’s workload we may still fail in our ultimate goal.

And to top it off we will still be paid less for what we do.

Some may perceive this on my part as simply sour grapes. Or I may be called a femininazi. A bra burner. Or any other less desirable name. I say fucking bring it on.

I know my stuff.

George Clooney famously said this about his career. This shit over here I’ll eat. This shit over here I won’t. I'm not eating shit anymore.

People don’t want to be made to feel uncomfortable. And the issues I talk about will definitely bring discomfort to people.

The truth is this. Misogyny is real. It is alive and it is quite well. Thriving even.

People who are the others. People who are other than. By this I mean the angry white Christian male. I don’t think of you as the enemy. It serves no real purpose for me to see you that way. I see you as misguided, misinformed, petulant children.

While I’ll admit change is difficult. (Even I hate change to my routine and I act out in terrible ways) 

There are times when I must swallow my pride and know what I did was wrong. What 25% of our population did was not only demand that their candidate was right to act and speak in such an agregious way they elected him by the very way they said was rigged, the electoral college.

Does anyone realize this man, the man who egged on the chants of lock her up over emails that said nothing, a man who welcomed the Russians’ involvement in our politics, to the point they cheered his election. A man ON TAPE bragging about sexual assault about how as a star he can get away with it.

A man who will be on trial for FRAUD charges connected to Trump University and rape allegations in another one.

As a woman, as a human, as an American I did not vote for this man. That being said I respect the office of the President of the United States of America. I believe in the Constitution as a living document. I believe 49% of this country did not vote. I’m talking to the my vote doesn’t matter crowd. It matters. Women especially your vote freaking matters.

I don’t root for this man to fail. I root for him to rise above what got him to this office. I pray that his pathological need for an audience doesn’t destroy our great nation.

I am not running for public office. I am using my voice to be heard to be heeded so that the status quo during the next election cycle will change the make-up of the Senate and Congress. I know less people tend to vote mid-presidential election cycles. It is ironic that it is in these cycles where most change can be seen and felt on a very local level.

As for our President-elect. My God be with you. And may God be with everyone. And women, it is time to make your voices heard. I am but one woman with one voice. We must stand together lest we fall apart.