Well crud, I always get grief and a lot of shame when I bring this topic up. Yet, as I am going to have either a stent or bypass tomorrow morning, this is as good as any to try to jump the divide of observations.
This is a very crunchy time in America, as are many, but this time there seem real winds of change. That progress that we all yearn and even die for, is hard fraught. To trudge this far into any society ill worth standing up for would be an exercise in waste and greed and of course corruption. The many headlines and bylines of today are in constant churning of the same news like a cement mixer stirring in the ingredients of mistrust and paranoia.
There have been quite a few events surrounding key issues and causes, and that catches my attention. The gun debate will rage until the fire is put out, the younger generations have their entire lives to remember the carnage and the fears of their generations. They will have their entire strengths built upon remembrance of their friends innocently gunned down. This is not a second amendment issue, this is pure right to breathe issue, a right not to get shot at issue. This is not your past, and this is not your decision to make any longer, the votes will be overwhelming and final. People will own their guns, but they will do so responsibly, or else. Yet, as they fight their battles, the overt insecurity of the older generations is readily seen in the acts of constraint and changing of the messaging.
That has been our way for quite some time, someone wishes to protest something and it becomes a play of spin as to what the purpose of those protests. Right now we are also in the middle of the #metoo movement, another deep dive into the ills of society. The spins have been played on that as well in the form of misinformation and outright lies by those wishing to cover their backsides. The power is not waning, the rights and protections of those who have been affected and the future of this society curse, or human curse, will change. We as a nation will find a new way of life in the process and the processes of those other ills as well.
A cautionary note on this though. As much as we are just getting it through some people’s heads that women’s health choices should be theirs and theirs alone. Let’s not fall down that rabbit hole that male psychology and their natures be defined by a female centric set of parameters. That kind of thinking and misandry will just lead to a bigger knee jerk reaction and snap the spell of change. I don’t know why I just know some things, but this is one of them. I may be a lower class of thinker, but I have to trust a gut with a winning track record. The classes of people are another area that is changing, the old stylistic descriptions do not lend well to today’s population. That hippie stoner may just be a billionaire web guy, and the guy in the suit may just be a guy trying to fit into the mailroom. You can’t tell anymore, and that is beautiful and at the same time confusing and scary to those who had all of their education on everything coming from the last century.
The reason I get into trouble it seems when I talk about sexism though, is because a lot of people cannot get through their head that I am not John Wayne. I am not the atypical male and I don’t fall so neatly into any box. I may look like one of those regular dudes, the kind that objectifies women and takes advantage of my maleness, but I am not. I grew up with many women and they always taught me to tell it like it is, how I see it. They didn’t say to put on a chivalrous cape when you talk to women either. Women can and do appreciate honesty if that is what they are looking for, if they are looking for something else then they will probably be offended at the strange aspect of just honesty and a look at my perspective. I could be completely wrong too and I love to hear it when I am, and that’s ok because it means someone has listened somehow. That, that little part of listening to listen, not to reply, spin or dismiss, but just to listen is where we are going with all of this. The children and the women, the poor and the unjustly treated are all standing up and marching. They are marching for change that is here and just needs the recognition, the future we all wanted has begun and left many unaware. They are talking for justice and the right to live free of abuse or terror, to learn. The future is in the making right now. Through it all though we must relearn the meaning and the ability to just listen, to listen.