No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on June 26, 2020

Day 31 of the Reopening Epic aka Friday

I have over time tried to keep politics to a minimum here. The few times I expressed my feelings about a matter that was touchy, I put it under a cut giving people the option to opt out.

That stops today.

I have been thinking about what has been going on all around me in 2020. All the people I know who are affected by what is happening more than I am. One of them thanked me for being an ally and I felt embarrassed.

Back in the 80s during the AIDs crises there was a phrase that was used that has stuck in my head. Silence = Death.

Silence doesn’t help those who have been marginalized. 

I cannot be silent anymore. 

This is some of what I believe. There will probably be more of these as time goes on.

I believe in basic human rights for everyone on the planet. I believe that civil rights in America means civil rights for everyone in America. 

I believe that Black Lives Matter and until they don’t have to worry about stepping out of their house because of the color of their skin, I will continue to believe in Black Lives Matter and doing what I can to help this become a reality.

I believe in equal rights regardless of the long list of exceptions some people would like to keep in place. Equal (noun): a person or thing considered to be the same as another in status or quality. Equal does not mean that you get less rights because someone is getting the rights they should have had since the formation of this country. No one is taking anyone’s rights away. Equal pay for equal work. Equal opportunities for everyone. Equal not more. 

A job should be decided on the person’s abilities and character not their outer appearance. 

What consenting adults do in their bedroom is none of anyone else’s dámņ business. I blame the Victorians for this.

Also this obsession about what consenting adults do is very creepy. 

I believe that LGBTQ+ people deserve the same rights as everyone else from employment to education to housing to marriage and any other rights straight folks enjoy.

Today is the fifth anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that marriage is marriage with no qualifiers as to who can marry whom. Five years later the dire predictions of the people who were in opposition to it have not come to past.

I believe that being smart is not a detriment.

I am an intellectual who was raised by intellectuals that taught me that being smart is a good thing. My family is smart and well educated and I refuse to apologize for that.

I believe in being educated and continuing to learn and expand what I know. 

Knowledge is power. Willful ignorance is stupidity on steroids.

I know my brain works faster than most of the people on the planet. I know that I am smarter than most. I refuse to dumb myself down for others comfort. 

I believe in science and the scientific method. 

I believe in facts and evidence. 

I believe that, given new facts, my beliefs can change.

I believe in wearing masks and social distancing will keep us on the right path until we have a working vaccine. If the CDC or another scientific body I trust change what we need to do to be safe, I will do that.

I believe we can be better than we are now. 

I am a Democrat raised by Democrats who believe in helping people is the right thing to do. I believe in social equality. Peter and I have the same political beliefs and I support him in expressing himself.

I believe we can be better than we are now.

I believe that Silence does Equal Death and I will be silent no more.

I am grateful for my parents giving me the tools to shape my moral compass. 

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