Finding My Voice

"If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality"
-Desmond Tutu-

Hello, my dear readers,

 In this post I'm going to be discussing something that I've struggled with for a long time: my own opinions. Now, you're probably thinking; 'opinions? How do you struggle with your own opinions?' and my response to you is this...

that's a loaded question, friend.

 You see, opinions were never hard for me to form- I knew what tv shows I thought were good, I knew what animals I liked, I knew my opinion on certain foods, all of those things were well, and good, and okay. However, I had no strong opinions on anything else- politics, events, people, anything that could be considered treading on people's toes- I just smiled and nodded and silently agreed/disagreed with whoever was talking, including people you should feel comfortable sharing opinions with, like my therapist, or my mom.

 As I've gotten older, especially once I turned fifteen-ish, I started to grow my own ideas and opinions. It was like culture shock to my entire being. Suddenly having an opinion on anything that wasn't what movie we should go see was terrifying. Even more terrifying was when I didn't agree with something a friend had said, or even worse, something my grandparents had said, or even worse, something my mom said.

 Some things I've always had strong opinions on; abortion, helping people out, animals in shelters, & obviously rude, bad, or downright evil things. But until probably a year, to a year-and-a-half ago, that was it. I did some volunteer work, basic things, and I had some semblance of caring about people- but I didn't truly have any idea of why I was doing what I was doing or if there was one thing I should focus on.

 Now as I've gotten older, I've developed strong opinions on lots of things. Sometimes they're not the most informed, sometimes they seem silly, sometimes they might border on conservative-in-a-bad-way, but I'm still growing as a person, and I'm still learning. I grew up around (majority) conservative, white, Christian, homeschooled families. And not that there's anything wrong with any of those things, but being around one group of people only doesn't really help you grow as a person.

 I'm not going to lie: most of my close friends are/were homeschooled, are Christian, and white, and conservative. But the thing is, we're a generation with internet access, and we can learn more about other people. I read articles all the time, written by & about people of color, and people with disabilities, people of other religions, and all different walks of life. Learning about other people is how you learn to be a better person. Once you see what your privilege is, once you learn about what other people have experienced, it helps you realize: wow, I need to work on this.

 It's the same way with politics, laws, history, and important world figures. I know who I'm voting for during this presidential election* and I know where I stand on health care, and still stand on abortion & gun issues, and where I stand on protecting the rights & lives of all people from all kinds of lives & beliefs.

 *Which is another opinion I've formed: that voting is good. Growing up, I believed what other people around me believed, until I got older and did my own research, and decided that if person after person decides one vote doesn't count, who's to say that one candidate won't win just because enough people didn't show up that day to vote for them?

 I still struggle sometimes, don't get me wrong- I hate confrontation. I talk a lot of talk but I find it troublesome to actually take action on some occasions, because I don't want to rock the boat. But you have to. If people dislike you because you've made your own opinions, then they never liked you anyway- they liked the version of you that made them happy & comfortable.

 But the thing is, now that I'm older, and I see that my generation is going to be the one that has to change things, I've decided that my voice matters. Every single voice (person) matters. The loud ones. The quiet ones. The non-verbal ones. The signed ones. The typed ones. If you have something to say, let it be your truth. Let it be known that you stand for what you care about.

 I've spent too long, staying quiet, silently being an ally to racism, sexism, and discrimination in any & all forms and not even realizing it that I now know that you have to speak up. I've found my voice- and if you're struggling- I'm here to help you find yours.

-Hannah