My Twitter profile says this:
Bleeding Heart Liberal, Proud Mother, Blissful Wife, and Living happily ever after on a budget! Political Junkie and soap box standing commentator.
And that is the beauty of Twitter. No need to go into detail, it's all there. But, since this requires more than 140 characters, I will try to give you a little more information: So here goes:
I AM A: Soap box standing, tree hugging, left wing preaching, dirty joke loving, no prisoners taking, bleeding heart, feminist! Need to know more?
Okay fine. Let's start with Soap Box Standing:
I respect your opinion! I do. Unless it's stupid. Now to me, stupid isn't thinking differently from me. But I do want people to think things through. If you're going to make an argument against something I believe in, back it up and connect the dots. Let's take Immigration reform for instance. If you say something to the effect of "Kick them all out because they're stealing jobs". Then yeah. You've got more explaining to do. What jobs are they taking? It sure as hell isn't as the head of the IT department for Dell. Not because he or she isn't capable, but because if someone is a computer programmer, chances are pretty good that they aren't trying to escape bone-crushing poverty. When is the last time you were crowded out of a cucumber picking job? Do you have a life long dream of scraping gutters? No? And if you do, when's the last time you applied for such a job? That's what I thought. You should be more worried about some guy in China taking your job. What about the "them" that you want kicked out? Where do they go? Where do their children go? Many families have lived here for generations. They have no home or family on the other side of the fence. It would be as if somebody forced you to... Iowa, and you're from New Mexico; with no money, no resources, and all of your belongings confiscated. How would you feel? And if your reply to that is: “That’s not my problem," well, then you're an asshole. And yes, quite possibly stupid. I know that there is much more to this debate, and I am confident that at some point, I will be addressing it.
Tree Hugging: I love trees.
Human's are smart. We can figure out how to do things without bringing life to extinction. Look what happened with Sperm Whales. We hunted them to near extinction and then were forced to figure out something else. And when we did. Boom! It was more efficient. And it happened at the end of the Industrial Revolution without hurting any business except for whale hunters and certain lamp makers. I bet they found other work. There's no need to destroy a resource before finding a better way.
Left wing preaching:
I bleed blue. Democrat for life. Now I'm not saying that the party is perfect... Close perhaps, but not perfect. The party started as a bigoted, close-minded organization and in the 60's was redefined. Today, we are so far removed from what it once was that it's not recognizable except for in-name only. I love reinvention. I think that if you don't like something, you change it. And that's a Progressive. One that strives for positive change. I want everybody to live the American dream, not just a few. I want everybody to be able to live without fear of hatred or inequality. I demand fiscal responsibility from everybody, including corporations. I believe we all share this land, and for that privilege, you have a responsibility to your fellow Americans. I am proud to be part of a group that sees our government as an evolving work in progress. You can't stand in the same river twice. And why would you want to?
Dirty joke loving:
I admit it. I live in the gutter sometimes and still possess college-humor. There's a line however between what's tastefully naughty and what's discriminatory. I love to laugh. If a few choice words or the mentioning of body parts is part of the joke, all the better.
No Prisoner Taking:
I won't coddle you. If you spew hate, I'm done with you. Bye Bye.
Bleeding heart:
I don't believe that any child dreams of growing up to be a drug addict or wants to sleep in doorways with newspapers for blankets. People deserve our help. I don't think we should enable people... Many of my counterparts misunderstand the difference: They believe that by feeding people we are making them lazy. Well, if you're hungry or can't shower, then you sure as hell aren't going to make it through a job interview. So, you give somebody a helping hand. You pay it forward so that someday, the person you helped can do the same. Yes, my heart bleeds. For every hungry child, abused animal and scarred piece of land. I won't apologize or be made to feel weak for that. Compassion is the opposite of indifference.
Feminist:
I love men. They are AWESOME! (Especially my husband!) And I love men because I am a Woman. A creator. A nurturer. A teacher. I believe that our bodies, are our bodies, and if we give up the right to do what we want with them, we will never be equal to men. I should be paying the same insurance rates and getting the same standard of care as any man. I should receive the same pay for the same work and skill level of any man. And more importantly, vagina's are awesome! If I just made you uncomfortable - get over it. Men have been paying homage to the penis since the beginning of time. Phallic symbols are all over the world in ancient and modern art and nobody thinks twice about it.
I am an average woman, living an average life. I have no “pull” with anybody in power and I certainly don’t have any money to contribute to sway someone’s opinion. I work hard, over pay my dues and still on occasion get ripped off or taken advantage of. My son is an adult now and trying to find his own place in this world. I am a proud-proud-proud mother and terrified that this world isn't good enough for him. My husband is my soul mate and while he doesn't understand why I feel the need to voice my opinions and thoughts, he supports me nonetheless. I have wonderful friends. I am blessed. I am happy. I am grateful for all that I have and for what I will someday obtain. I hover between agnosticism and atheism but firmly believe in humanness. That we are the keepers of the earth. And that by hurting her and her creations, we create our own hell.
I grew up in a small working class town, under the roof of a crazed mother and a complacent father. My mother wasn't crazy in the figurative sense. She's literally nuts. She has never been professionally diagnosed, but it's generally assumed that she's a paranoid schizophrenic and bipolar. While these conditions are not her fault, the conditions that I grew up in, are. She has always been lucid and clear enough to see the results of her madness, and yet to this date she refuses to seek help. I understand that she comes from a generation that blamed and embarrassed victims of mental disease, but I would hope that any parent would choose their children's well-being over their own ego. My brother and I lived through measurable mental and physical injuries with no hope of help from the outside world.
I've always felt guilty for being resentful of my upbringing. There are so many children that have gone through horrible and unspeakable abuses, that when compared to my own, they would have chosen my life over their own without a second thought. But I also know that wrong is wrong. The degree of wrong doesn't change that fact. I also know that a person deserves better than the worst there is.
Extreme fundamental religion dominated my household. My family attended a church who interprets the Bible literally and consider themselves the "chosen ones." They believe that they are the only ones who will enter Heaven someday. Because of my family's problems, my brother and I were ridiculed by the other children there and at times, their parents too. Our lives were not secret, and from an early age, I was willing to complain to anybody within earshot. But because my scars were not visible, I was well nourished and came from a "Christian" family, I was overlooked. Ignored. It was "A Family Matter." The last time I set foot in that church, I was 14 years old, but I can still quote scripture just as good as a preacher's wife.
My fellow church congregants weren't the only ones. My school counselors were no different. I was seen as a stereotypical rebellious teenager who was lying for attention. It was too much trouble to investigate. Nobody wanted to open that can of worms. I did have some very good friends whose families allowed me to stay with them for extended periods of time, and for that, I was and still am, grateful.
In the end, I was lucky. One of my best friend's and her mother took me in during my teenage years. I was cared for like one of her own, and she never asked for anything in return. Technically, I was considered a runaway, and she put herself at risk by helping me. She was a single mother, probably earning minimum wage, but she never asked for, or received one thin dime to help with my care. She taught me how to be independent. To never be a victim. To have pride in myself and to never allow someone else to make me feel inferior. She made the best flour tortillas and menudo soup in the world. She laughed so much! We all did! She taught me about equality and overcoming obstacles. She saved me. I realized back then how special she was, but now, I KNOW it.
I remember watching people in the grocery store; how they would glare at her because she was Mexican. I overheard people making snide remarks when she spoke in Spanish. People openly questioned what a Mexican woman was doing with a white girl. I learned that racism is alive and well in this country. I learned that the only day to deal with it is by demonstrating grace. By rising above it all and never allowing your shoulders to slump or your smile to fade. She taught me that to be a woman is to be a teacher. When somebody does something unacceptable, you speak up. You teach others how you want to be treated. If they don't learn that right off, you keep at it.
I must admit that I didn't always do things that would make her proud. I got into all kinds of trouble. I was a hell-bent, wild child. You name it, and I probably did it. I have experienced and done things that the makers of Lifetime movies get big bucks to recreate. I had a chip on my shoulder and I wanted to be a bad ass. But, I got into trouble one too many times and became ashamed of myself. I remembered my teacher. I remembered her lessons. I remembered her love.
When I was 20 I became a mother myself. I've tried my best to teach him the lessons that I have learned. It is important to me that he never judge. That he is proud and respectful. Insightful and free thinking. When he was about six years old, we went into a convenience store, and overheard a customer berating the store employee for having an accent. I believe it was Korean, but I could be wrong. At any rate, the customer rudely asked the man why he couldn't speak English. He told him to go back to where he came from. Before I could say anything, my small brilliant boy said loudly, "He's speaking English! I can understand him just fine. Do you want me to tell you what he's saying?" I doubt my son understood that he was insulting the customer's intelligence, but that fact wasn't lost on anybody else. I was so proud. He shushed that bigot with innocence and a moral superiority.
So, that's where I come from. Religion let me down, and a woman I barely knew rescued me. Kindness trumps dogma and empty words. I root for the underdog and voice my opinion when I see something that isn't right. I try to be respectful of other opinions, as long as they make sense and don't trudge over somebody else's happiness or well being. I love politics. It's a dirty business, and those in power often abuse it, but if they want to keep their jobs, they must listen. And I want to make them hear me. I was not listened to as a child. As an adult, I will do everything I can to be aware and not let that happen again.
-v-
