Hi my Internet companions,
It has been a while, I know. I suppose I am not that good at being a blogger, but who cares, I certainly don't.
And that is exactly what I wanted to talk to you about today: being under pressure and trying to speak up about it.
You must know, I have changed. Changed mentally and critically. Because of recent events. (Funny how 'Suddenly I see' by KT Tunstall just started playing while writing this down. The chorus perfectly describes how I am feeling at the moment:
Suddenly I see (suddenly I see) This is what I wanna be Suddenly I see (suddenly I see) Why the hell it means so much to me
The meaning of this chorus will become clear when you read on)
The past weeks Belgium and especially Flanders have been through some big mess. In 1 one week only we all were confronted with death twice, with the cruelty of it and the fragility of life.
In one week we lost a young woman, a perfect innocent free woman in the midst of her life snatched away from earth by the gruesomeness of a man, and a popular radio presenter, a real life teddy bear with his heart on the best place, gone in a second because of heart failure. Both suddenly gone, both making the world shiver by the brusque way they were suddenly not there anymore.
That week I got scared, angry, disappointed, sad and especially I felt so much disbelief. I just could not understand, and I still can't, how people can claim themselves the right to do whatever they want with another human being. Who on earth has ever stated that we are entitled to use people for our own needs without consent, as a toy to play with? WHO?
Being a young woman myself, like so many others, I felt personally attacked. I got scared when riding my bike late at night and I was so irritated at the same time. WHY? Who ever caused me to be scared, to be afraid a man will grab me and abuse me? Why we? Why not them?
And as if it wasn't enough what we were experiencing in Flanders, there came Alabama. Crushing women all over the world into the ground. Spitting in our faces. Ridiculing our magical natural powers. 25 conservative MALE senators stated to have the right on deciding what a woman can or cannot do with her own body. MEN who cannot give birth, who will never be able to carry a child, who will never be able to understand, even experience the feelings, distress, mental and bodily heaviness a pregnancy causes. THOSE freaking men, those monsters, forbid abortion even when a woman is raped.
The atrocious and horrifying opinions they stated made me vomit in my mouth.
This is the 21st century, this is 2019 and still, still women need to fight. A war against (male) leaders we have been fighting since ages, with a postive point being the right to vote in the 1900s, but it hasn't been only ups since then. Okay, there have been lots of ups, but the case of Alabama only tears those ups apart in tiny little pieces.
I am normally not the person to shout out on social media, to force my opinion onto people. I usually am a listener, a silent contemplater. But the last couple of weeks, I not only decided to speak up, I also decided to be more assertive since it's so so so needed, urgently!
I am upset, wounded and annoyed. And not only because of women rights. I am also angry because of politicians who behave as children, who think their position is made to claim power and popularity and who think they are God, while our country and the world needs examplary, representatives hearing our voices and with a logical, healthy sense of thinking, being honest about the situation without disguising the reality. I really believe those kind of people are threatened with extinction.
So, what can we do? Yes, we are just the simple citizens forced to nod yes or shake no.
NO, let us stop and use our voice. Nature gave you a voice, an outer to speak and an inner to write. We Belgians are always so cautious, so afraid of others, afraid of the pressure, afraid of opinions, thinking we need to follow the stream. Please, come on, things will never change if you stay silent.
I know I sound very brave now, I certainly am not. I am afraid everytime I post something online since deep down I want to stay silent as well and just go one being invisible. But, I know now that my generation and the younger people following me are the only ones who can ever inspire some change, even if it's something extemely tiny, it's still change.
And men, please, I especially call upon you, since we need you more than ever. I know you are out there with your opinions as well. If you have any logic sense in you, than also speak up, not particulary for women rights, do it for human rights. Last time I checked, we both are humans, crossing female and male out.
So, this just needed to be put down, off my chest. And yes, I am now also afraid, because of opinions about my opinion. But like I said before and will say again: should I really care? No.
If there is one right I certainly cannot be robbed of, it is my right to speak up. So I did. And I will continue doing so if necessary.
Damn, I feel so weird now writing this all down. I feel brave for deciding to post this but at the same time I am so insecure about this.
Whoever you are reading this: Thank you. Thank you for taking your time to read what is in my mind. I do not ask you to agree with me. I just wanted to make this point clear. I hope I did.
Now I will shut up and continue to be invisible again. But, a bit less invisible than before.
Lots of love,
MJ
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