The thing about the Texas abortion ban, and the Texas pro-gun allowance, and the Texas no-mask rule, and the Texas voting restrictions is that your state is most likely right behind us.
It’s more of a cry for our civilized world and much less of a cry of this state I happen to call home. The term “we’re all in this together” applies more now than it ever has before.
The thing about going along with such laws is every single one of them effects your life, too. It effects your kids and your neighbors and your friends and your enemies.
And your enemies are pretty damn close to you. They think like you, and they act like you, and they care about the same internal things that you care about, too. They are So. Much. Like. You.
I look at the photo of the white men grinning after signing their new abortion law into effect and I want to throw up, or throw a mug, or throw fists, or throw something. What I see when I look at that photo is absolute disgust for mankind. Disgust for this state. Disgust for white men.
And I think – do I have disgust for me, too? Where does the disgust end, and where does it begin, and for the love, how did we get here?
The thing about where we’re at is it’s not just here, in blood-red Texas. It’s coming to your state, too. So my friends, we can run there, but we can’t hide.
What Texas did is it let all these other states know that it’s OK. It’s OK to walk over women, and minorities, and science, and those with more open beliefs than us. It’s OK to say you’re going to stop rape and do absolutely nothing – absolutely nothing – to the men who rape. It’s OK to say that you’re protecting a fetus’ right when you don’t give a damn about that kid once it’s out of the womb. It’s OK in Texas, and it’s probably OK in your state, too.
Remember, we’re all in this together.
The more we fight, the more we divide. The more anger leads our conversations, the more we give up. The more fear that enters our world, the more our world shatters.
I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of this shattered world.
So to the men in that photo with your grins: what does this do for you? What do these decisions do for you? Not to the companies backing you, or the money you’re getting to make these decisions, or the winners after long nights of poker and beer; what does this do to you? To your soul? To how you want to lead? To how you want to be remembered?
Is this how we want to be remembered?
Are the decisions we’re making bettering humanity, or bettering our pocketbooks? Are they bettering our world, or bettering our status in life?
At the end of the day, what really matters?
And at the end of the day, what do we do to break into each other’s hearts and show grace, and listen, and understand?
My friends, Texas is boiling over. Your state is next. It’s time we stop fighting and start talking and listening about this.
I’m all ears.
Love,
Jen