I'm Using My Voice To Stand Up For What I Believe In
I thought I lost my ability to speak up, but really I just had to find a place for my voice to be heard.
"Between my finger and my thumb, the squat pen rests; snug as a gun." — Seamus Heaney
In the beginning, violence and "dominance behavior" was almost justified. The cavemen knew nothing of communism and community, they just knew they needed to protect the territory from marauders. They needed food. Innate within them was the inkling that the ultimate goal was to find a mate to pass down their genes, carry on the family name.
Flash forward 30,000 years and a pecking order has been established. Society has a hierarchy where equality only exists within class compartments: rich to rich, poor to poor and woman to woman. Because, of course, we must be governed. There must be order. Without it, chaos and catastrophe would prevail, right?
The societal elites have their fingers held against a button that, if pressed, could wipe out a couple of a million innocent people, if not the entire population. These very people are initiating wars, to this very day, for personal gain. They call themselves diplomats, yet can scarcely communicate candidly without breaking a sweat. What has happened to integrity, to honesty and to human compassion? Or has it only ever existed within minority groups? I can't help but wonder.
As far as I'm concerned, right now we are living in the future. For most of us, particularly millennials, we are intelligent progressives that support equal opportunity and are actively attempting to bring attention to matters that should have been resolved long ago, such as climate change, equality for women and the LGBTQ+ community and world hunger. The main priority of the groups of people whose attention we are desperately trying to capture is the controlling of the masses: this has always been the prerogative. Indoctrinate the people so they are easier to manipulate.
These are but a few issues I wish to address.
I classify as a humanitarian and an environmentalist. I'm pro-choice and a part of the LGBTQ+ community. I am also a feminist, but not a misandrist. Above all, I enjoy seeing happiness and the empowerment of everyone who deserves it.
Until about a year ago I was completely apolitical, living in Northern Ireland under a governing party who votes against everything I believe in. Now, I am still living in Northern Ireland and the party's philosophy has not changed, but my interest in politics has grown at an accelerated pace. Maybe it has something to do with hearing about Brexit every single day for 3 years, or maybe it's to do with my partner's partiality towards heated debates.
What is for certain, though, is I once had a voice that was overshadowed so perpetually that I became afraid to use it. It dawned on me that I had the power within me to make a difference. Join a collective, contemporary movement which strives towards a positive future for one and all, then wield my writing voice and use it not only be heard but to be acknowledged.
