why i marched…

why did I march in the Omaha edition of The Woman’s March On Washington?

how can I put my answer down into words?

the short answer is because…  TRUTH MATTERS. WE MATTER. OUR FUTURE MATTERS.

I made signs for the march all day that Saturday. I wanted them to convey everything I was feeling. I wanted to channel all of my sadness & frustration & anger & just plain disbelief in to these 5 little signs…

I marched FOR OUR GIRLS. OUR RIGHTS. OUR PLANET. OUR FUTURE.

really, a bunch of women marching all over the world, ok, 3 MILLION women marching all over the world & people look at it & all that they can come up with is that we are marching for pro-choice reasons. how ignorant is that????

I marched because this man does not speak for me. yes, he is my president, the president of the country that I live in & I need him to realize that he is indeed my president too. I marched because I know that he does not speak for me & my values.

i believe that he is particularly dangerous for our children, our next generations. children that are discovering themselves, the world around them & where they fit into it. I can not even imagine having a 10 year old son & trying to explain to him that the awful things that this man says about women & minorities & people of other religions are not ok & it is not ok to treat people so poorly. it is not ok to disrespect people in such a horrible way. how do you explain to a young boy or girl that the things that he says are hateful & ignorant but then explain to them that enough people believed in the horrible things that he says & voted him to become our 45th. president of the United States of America??????????????

how do you tell your daughter to stand up for herself, her body, her safety, never let anyone treat you with disrespect & if someone does, you tell me. I will help you. then that little girl is watching the news, she hears the things that this man says & she looks at me & asks me “isn’t that our president?”  & I have to say yes.

how will she process that?

how do you teach your sons to respect girls & women. to treat them with respect & stand up for them. how do you teach your son how to enter the dating world & how to be respectful & loving to others & then have them see this big, powerful, wealthy, man stand up there & disrespect women & treat them like they are less than him??????????????

how is that boy going to process this?

the talk becomes normal. it becomes ok & normal to hear such horrible disrespect coming from a man of such power & all of a sudden our kids think that that makes them powerful & strong.

it is dangerous territory. it permeates our lives no matter how much we let them know that it just isn’t ok. we can not give them an answer as to why so many people believed in such a man, all we can tell them is that we do not speak or act like that.

and it is bigger than that.

when you have a man that is so loud, they can’t help but hear his words.

it is not just about them learning how to be treated & how to treat people of the opposite sex it is about them learning about how we treat anyone. how all of us treat each other.

it is not ok for my kids to listen to the news & have to hear this man speaking hate language about people from other countries. people of other religions.

we talk about it in our house.

Mikayla is 17, she has come to her own decisions. she has processed this entire election with her dad & I. we watched, dumbfounded as people got behind this clown.

Sophia is 5, she hears more than we know. she takes it all in & sometimes she will ask questions, sometimes she will give us her input. like when she was asked why she was marching at the women’s march & she looked up with those big beautiful eyes & said “FOR HUMAN RIGHTS”

I cried.

they listen, they hear, they take it all in, they are processing all of it. everything they hear at that age is contributing to their moral compass for their future.

and this is just one reason he is dangerous.

we can not go backwards.

ok, adults want to believe in this man & the hate & bigotry that he spews but dammit, not my kids. not my family. we are not going backwards & I marched to say that I am not following this man anywhere. I am not one of his sheep, blindly following him back to hate.

I have seen many posts on social media from women stating they were embarrassed by the women’s march. I read these words, from multiple women. I read them, trying to put myself into their shoes & all I could come up with was that this is one thing that these women did not do… put themselves into another person’s shoes.

I didn’t march for myself, because I feel like there are things I can not do or that I am persecuted in any way.

I marched because I know that there are millions of people out there that are persecuted. because they don’t make as much money as others. because they love another woman. because of the color of their skin. because of their religion. because English is their second language.

I marched because my heart aches for these people. good people. just trying to live the best lives they can. they have mothers & fathers & children & people that love them. they are just like you & me & now we have a man running this country that believes they are second class citizens.

I have read these posts from these women & they seem to think that the march was some whining, temper tantrum for liberals. what????????????????

this was a place to stand tall, strong & resolve in our beliefs that all people are created equal. it’s not just a saying, it is truth.

I marched for these girls to see, it is bigger than them. it is about all people. they are lucky, they do not go without. they have warm homes & loving families & great schools & warm dinners & toys & cars & people pushing them to go to college & telling them they can be anything they want to be as long as they put in the work. they need to know that not everyone has these things.

they need to understand that even in a world that revolves around money, that is not real. how you treat others is real. how you see others is real. how you help others is real. your truth is real.

I have actually been told by family members, just wait, he may put more money in your pocket at the end of the year…. I couldn’t believe my ears. I DON’T GIVE A SHIT HOW MUCH MONEY I HAVE, IF OTHER PEOPLE ARE HURTING BECAUSE OF IT, I WOULD RATHER BURN IT.

and that is my truth.

shane & I work hard every day. we work & we work & still sometimes, the last few days of the month I have no money for groceries. we are considered a middle class family in America.

now, come to my face & tell me how I have done something wrong. you come tell me to my face how I just don’t work hard enough. I dare you.

ok. sorry, that was a little confrontational but seriously. people get a little money in their pocket & all of a sudden they are looking down on everyone they think might not have as much as them. I am getting a little side tracked here, but not really, because this is the mind set in America today.

I marched because this new president of ours is perpetuating this mind set. I will not sit back & watch it happen.

so I marched. we marched. & this little girl marched tall & proud, with her little bunny strapped to her back, holding that sign high. THE. WHOLE. TIME. & I could not have been more proud. I hope she will always remember this night & if she doesn’t, I hope that she always remembers to stand up for herself, this planet & for others.

I marched because this man does not care about this planet. I marched with a heavy heart because this man has no care about this planet.

his second day in office he signed an “executive order” to move forward with the Dakota access pipeline, his only reason was it would create “good jobs, great, great jobs”

really???

at what cost?

he gives no thought of the sacred land, the sacred people, the sacred water. the repercussions that our future generations will face because of his decisions. my heart aches.

meanwhile, he is a money man. money, money, money.

science isn’t real, alternative facts are truth, we will never run out of water, fracking is safe, pipelines are safe, who needs trees, who needs sustainable energy, global climactic change is fake, people not from America don’t matter, muslims are scary, all muslims are terrorists, not everyone needs health care, women have no right to make medical decisions for their own bodies, if you are fleeing horrible living conditions, war, poverty, sexual slavery & other human atrocities, guess what, our new president says you don’t belong here. the list goes on & on & on & on. there are too many reasons to march & all that I am left with is…

WHY DIDN’T YOU MARCH?

like I said during the election, I don’t know what is scarier. that one man would believe all of these horrible things about others & feel so superior or that millions of people would actually hear what he says & say to themselves, yes. yes, that is the man that I believe in.

now that is scary.

But, do I truly believe that everyone that voted for this man believes in everything he says? No. I do not. I just don’t know how to reconcile those differences. I believe that his scare tactics worked. We have seen that used in our world’s history, in horrible ways, & it frightens me to see this man using such tactics. I know that people are scared because money is tight & we live in an uncertain world but giving in to his dividing ways, I believe, is only going to make the world more dangerous. For all of us.

I have heard that people think we marched because we are pouty, cry baby little snowflakes pissed off because “our candidate” didn’t win.

I didn’t have a candidate.

I marched for anyone that has ever heard his words & felt like lesser of a person because of them.

that is my short answer for why I marched. I will continue marching. I will continue to stand up for the things that I believe in, such as…

our planet. human rights. integrity. morals. all people are created equal. love is love. black lives matter. water is life. a woman’s right to choose. every person’s right to a quality education & health care. inclusion. acceptance. kindness. truth. science. free speech.

I march knowing that the world is bigger than me…

I am awake. we are awake. we see you & we are not going away.

and if my kids are reading this, I marched for you.