Today, I marched with 10,000 other Michiganders in the state capital of Lansing.
For the last few months I’ve tried to remain fairly benign about politics on social media.
I have friends on every range of the political spectrum, and I don’t want to alienate relationships over political differences. I wrote two blog posts around the election: one advocating for the kingdom above politics, and another advocating relationships over politics.
But today, I marched. It was my first time marching, and there was a lot to take in. So, I took pictures of the thousands surrounding me. The capitol stands in the backdrop of people standing together in unity for women’s rights.
Before posting pictures on social media, I thought about it for an exceptionally long amount of time.
Will this alienate my friends? What will people think of me?
I was worried people would think I am no longer trusting God, but that is not true. And I find that rationale weird. Christ spoke out when he believed things were wrong, and that did not mean He lacked faith.
I was concerned people would think I want Donald Trump to fail, but I do not. I live in this country, wanting our President to fail would be damning myself.
I was worried people would think my signs mean I love Hillary Clinton, and although she received my vote I have serious concerns about some of Hillary’s decisions.
I was worried people would think I was a crazy liberal, but I refuse to defend that because the accusation is so insulting it doesn’t deserve a real defense.
The more I thought about it, I disliked how defensive I felt.
I marched for two reasons: 1) I believe women deserve rights and 2) I believe the President of the United States should not be using Twitter to insult or shame people. Women are sexually harassed, assaulted, and abused at astounding rates, and I would like those rates to decline. The man that is now President has made terrible remarks about women. I believe that not acknowledging that those remarks are disrespectful and wrong makes it seems like there were okay to say, but they are not – especially by the leader of a country.
Then, the more I thought about it I felt angry. I’m angry that I feel like I need to defend myself when I have done nothing wrong. I held a sign in a crowd. I didn’t burn down a building or harm personal property. I didn’t personally attack Donald Trump or his family. I have not started believing anything I find contradictory to my faith.
We are fortunate to live in a country where we can peacefully protest. I have the right to state my opinion, and other people are allowed to disagree with me.
Today, I stand with the thousands of women who believe we deserve the right to be heard. My head is held high, and I am grateful for this opportunity.
Peace, love, and blessings to you all.