Everyone, at one time or another, participated in a relationship that didn’t work. Why it didn’t work might not have been obvious to one or both parties. Some walked away and forgot all about it. Others live with it, regurgitating it in every low moment. It could have been about love, friendship, or work.
In today’s world, women have figured out how to transform themselves from stay-at-home undervalued housewives into women who work hourly, salaried, to business owners. They have found their voice, broken out of one or more societal tailored boxes, to emerge confident, assertive, and looking for life partners – not owners.
In this same world, men, safely protected in their man-box, have no idea what happened. Why? Because it hasn’t happened for them or to them. It’s happened outside their box. They were blindsided, unprepared to share ownership of a relationship. Written on one wall of the uncomfortable box men live in is: “Someone must be in control, and that someone is you.”
From further back in time than I care to go. Okay, I’ll start with The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Men, white landowner men, wrote it specifically to make sure they had control of the fledgling country. They never recognized the rights of women, and they specifically identified male African Americans as 4/5ths a man.
No one said a word.
This country accepted the words therein. Ratified. Life was good. White men were in control. People of color were “less than,” not fully “human,” and “beasts of burden.” The population said – nothing. Black people suffered inhumanely over centuries. And, in this age of enlightenment, in the wealthiest nation on earth, Black Americans live in terror that they will be arrested, shot or killed at any time between leaving their home and returning. The statistics are horrific. Rare is the prosecutor, judge, or jury who holds the killer(s) accountable.
No one said a word.
Feeling all-powerful, the right-wing conservatives on the Supreme Court took away federal rights for women to control the care of their own bodies and gave those rights to State Legislatures. Red states screamed, “Hallelujah”. In some, Abortion Bans were triggered into law, and in others, they either were in place (Texas) or legislatures voted them in place.
Right-wing White men couldn’t believe the growing extent of their power. They not only tamed the BIPOC community, but now, they have taken control of women’s bodies. Someone must be in control. It will be White Men living with a theological imperative exercising abusive control in a country that was founded by people seeking personal freedom.
With the excitement exceeding a four-year-old opening a pile of presents at Christmas, there was great rejoicing and celebration of this newly granted abusive power and control. Other human rights went up on the legislative board for removal as soon as possible. Was there no end to the crusade for total authoritarianism? Whatever joy there is in being an abuser, it is fueled by the degree of pain suffered by the abused.
This time everybody had something to say!
Women and their advocates screamed long and loud around the country and throughout the world. The battle for human rights is enjoined and will be challenged until the war is won. Autonomy over one’s body and the right to privacy is not up to anyone except the person. It’s not only an issue for those who can bear children, but also an issue for the people who love them.
Yea Kansas and Arizona. Both states were the first to overwhelmingly defeated Abortion Bans – 8/7/2022
In the race for a suppressive, restrictive, autocratic theocracy, its advocates have forgotten about one itty bitty snag — “FREE WILL.”
EDUCATION
Far-right Red States and school boards are facing a catastrophic loss of teachers. ‘Never seen it this bad’: America faces catastrophic teacher shortage. It seems that, unlike the Plantation Owners of yore, nobody owns teachers, or can dictate the abuse of children by forcing teachers to ignore their needs, questions, or curiosity; and refusing to ban automatic weapons used by the murderers of teachers and school children. The remedy? Employ untrained veterans and college students to fill the gap. Fulfilling the suspected attitude that teachers are only babysitters. The outcome of un-educated children is a generation unable to compete or govern in this ever-changing world which will handicap the very society that made it so.
BUSINESS
In a way, Red States having an uneducated population won’t be too stressful because there won’t be many employers. Companies, like Eli Lilly in Indiana — Abortion law in Indiana leads to fallout for the state, are finding that outstanding candidates for challenging positions will not move to a repressive state. Without jobs and without an education, this generation will be the next leaders in these states.
HEALTH
That is, of course, if they live. It turns out, that not only are teachers and companies jumping ship but so are doctors — A challenge for antiabortion states: Doctors reluctant to work there. All those recruiters trying to staff whatever hospitals are left in Red States, can not get doctors to come and practice in an environment where they might find themselves in a lawsuit or arrested should they opt for patient care over Red State current and future edicts.
When immediate gratification for greed and power motivate decisions at any government or relationship level, the effect cripples the people who live with/in them. Abusers never win in any way that matters.
The American Divorce, which we are now experiencing, is when there is an agreement between two people, people and their government, with an explicit understanding to commit to each other and an implicit expectation, couched in the word ‘compromise,’ that one party will concede to the wishes of the other. Any deviation causes conflict and hard feelings. These feelings color everything that follows unless both parties are willing to clear the air with honesty, compassion, and empathy. What is happening in this country is a macro example of eroding trust and setup for divorce.
SOLUTIONS
1. VOTE to support Rights and Freedoms
2. Embrace that we are all human, without exception or exclusion. We have individual and citizen rights, without exception or exclusion. I suggest the best thing we can do for the country, going forward, is to amend the Constitution so that wherever the word “men” or “woman’ or “race” or “gender” appears or is referenced, it is replaced with ” human-being, without exception or exclusion or prejudice.”
WHY CARE?
Care because when we meet as equals, anything is possible.
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay