Ericka's 'Verse

This is a follow-up to the “Confessions” entry I just posted.

I have heard positive and negative feedback on the mere idea of protesting.  The positive is making sure your government at least knows that you are willing to get off your ass and do something if you don’t like what you see, reminding them that they work for you, and if they don’t respect the majority wishes instead of their own personal agenda, we are out there.  The biggest negatives I hear is that it doesn’t matter.  It won’t change anything. Don’t be a sore loser.  Bite your tongue and deal with it.  I understand both sides of that argument.

That said, I was very clear on why I was marching:

• I do not like what I see going on in the executive and legislative branches right now.
• I do not like the people who are being voted in to local posts either.
• As a human, I am deeply concerned about environmental issues. There is no “Planet B” if we screw this one up.
• As a human, I am absolutely committed to human rights, regardless of color, religion, or sexual orientation.
• As a woman, I am tired of being treated like a second class citizen.
• As a woman in 2017, I cannot believe that I still have to fight for the right for women to control her own bodies, to obtain quality health care, and to obtain inexpensive contraception.
• As a woman, I still struggle with garnering the same wages a man earns for the same job.
• As a woman, I will not stand idly by and watch men in power attempt to box me into vulnerable positions where my only option is to ask a man for help, which I likely won’t get, at least not on my terms.

People who showed up to march were there for a much broader array of reasons.  The above stated reasons were simply a part of my core impetus for marching.  I support each and every person who showed up because we all deserve that respect and care.

One of the chief concerns is the behavior of the President himself.  He randomly Tweets something about Boeing, and their stock tanks.  The fact that he has that power and uses it as a bullying tactic is terrifying.  But what is more troublesome still is that in his vanity he is so easily distracted by what are essentially meaningless slights and spends his time and energy systematically going after the person or entity that offended him instead of going about the business of making America great again, whatever that means.  Personally, I find it somewhat amusing that Trump is now irritated about  the protests in various cities, but I remain largely nonplussed.

With respect to climate change, 97% of scientists agree not only that our climate is changing but also that humans are causing it.  NASA and NOAA just reported that 2016 was the planet’s hottest year on record for the third year in a row.  Yet fully one-third of congressional members are climate change “deniers,” as is Mr. Trump.  I am quite sure that when coastal cities begin flooding, a few people will regret enabling these folks.  I’m also of the mind that while there are certainly a few idiots in congress, the vast majority of those who vote against legislation that would curb pollution by big corporations, encourage energy independence, fund clean energy research, and create new jobs in clean energy companies do so because their campaigns are bankrolled by big oil and gas interests.  It’s the only logical conclusion.  That is a concern to us.

This is the slogan that I appreciated for it’s blunt demands.  Yes, demands, plural.  Our country’s majority leadership is under the impression that they have a moral obligation to regulate women’s bodies, thereby curtailing their options and freedoms.  They also seem to be under the self-righteous delusion that they are therefore the moral compass of our country.  While there are a lot of jokes to be made here, I think the vast majority of us can agree that “moral” is not a term befitting of the vast majority of our current leadership.  Freedom means exactly that.  Women have, at present, the right to choose, but that is swiftly coming under breathtaking assault.  The thing is, if men could conceive, this wouldn’t even be an argument.  So fuck your moral superiority.  My body, my choice.  End of discussion.

As a follow on to that, it seems that religion figures prominently in the argument against women’s rights.  I actually find it humorous that any leader who proclaims to be a Christian quotes substantially from the Old Testament when it comes to laws regulating women.  Those who profess to be Christians, but clearly haven’t read anything Christ had to say, fall back on statements like, “It’s God’s will for a woman to be pregnant and reproductive, even in the case of rape or incest.”  They also say idiotic things like a woman’s body has a way of shutting down the process of becoming pregnant if she was raped.  These same people don’t want us to have birth control.  They don’t want us to have sex out of wedlock, but if we get pregnant we can’t have an abortion. But if we have a baby, the medical bills for which are monstrous without health insurance which they also don’t want us to have, then we have to have a baby.  But they don’t want to pay for that either.  Because it’s God’s will.  And that is why I found this sign so hilarious:

IF MY PREGNANCY IS GOD’S WILL

THEN SO IS YOUR LIMP DICK.

In spite of the crowd using the march to vent their frustrations—it is a protest after all—
there were many who rightly shared the love.  This sign, among many others, represents the comradery and the hope this group possessed.  There were also, “Love trumps hate,” “I’m not free as long as any woman is not free,” and “Love, not hate,” signs.  It was a sign of hope.  Hope for our future and that of generations to come.  Hope that we can continue to join together in love and common decency to protect our future and guide our leaders in the way we need them to go.  Hope that our leaders, locally and nationally, will begin to cue off of us.  Hope that we can begin again from the ground up by running for local office or doing our research and finding a candidate we can support, then actually support them.  Knock on doors.  Reach out to friends and neighbors.  Bring communities together.

America is already great.  We proved it on January 21, 2017.  The entire world stood in solidarity with the Women’s March.  That still gives me goosebumps.  And it gives me hope.  We really are in this together.  These issues are not just women’s issues.  They are global issues.  I have hope that we can make a difference.