Many people over the last two years have asked me why I continued to write articles, and I figured as this is my last article, it would be fitting to write one about why I wrote for Odyssey for so long.
Writing these articles about social justice and equality issues and sharing them on my social media platforms was never something I was excited about doing. Contrary to popular belief, although I have strong opinions, I don't necessarily want to share them with others all the time. I think it is everyone's responsibility to educate themselves, even if that just means googling things and forming their own opinions.
However, I think that being someone who is lucky enough to get a college education and learn about issues people with certain identities deal with means that I have a responsibility to inform people about topics they may not know about. Everyone SHOULD educate themselves, but that doesn't mean they are going to.
No one needs to change their mind to my opinions, but I think they are important ones to share not just to educate people on identities they may not know a lot about, but to give people in those identities the feeling that someone sees them and will speak out for them, even when the majority won't.
For every one person who I could tell thought my articles were annoying, or too liberal, or stupid, or childish, there was another person in my life, often who was a part of the identity/issue I was writing about, that told them my article made a difference in their daily life.
Each article I published about race, or gender, or sexuality, I had at least one person message me to tell me that the article opened their eyes to a problem they didn't know existed or made them consider an idea they never had before or made them feel better as someone who holds the identity I wrote about.
If I inspired one person during my time at Odyssey, then the many hours I spent creating and editing these articles was worth it. If I made one person feel more understood or supported, then I have no regrets.
Writing, for me, is done to communicate and touch people in ways that you never could through another medium. I'm thankful to have had time to not only share my opinion but connect with people who did AND did not agree with my opinions.
As much as it was fun to hear how many people agreed with my articles, it was more educational for me to hear why people disagreed with them. Although I have had a great time creating content for this platform, it is time to move on. Thanks to all for the kind words and conversations - and hopefully you'll see me writing for another company someday!
