Overwhelmed at Large

Image: ericafinds.com

I'm very liberal and I make no secret of that. I'm horrified by the current administration as they try to wipe out all the good that the previous administration tried to do. I try to be an ally as best I can to LGBT+ people. I think everyone should have the same rights and freedoms. And the whole healthcare mess, well, that one scares me the most because of my poor health.

But, I see posts on social media often about how everyone needs to be calling their representatives everyday about a variety of bills. How cisgendered white people aren't doing enough to build up LGBT+ people and POC. How we must resist with every fiber of our being every moment of the day.

Ok, maybe not so much that last one, but it's overwhelming. I use resistbot when I can, but that only really formats and gets your words to the right place. You still need to write several cohesive paragraphs about what you want your representative to be doing which can be hard sometimes.

So I have guilt that I'm not a good enough liberal. That I'm not doing enough for the causes. That I'm not a good enough person because I don't have the ram in my head to resist every day.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this so I thought I'd put it out there. I know a lot of my issues stems from the fact that I have a boatload of anxiety on a normal day. Lately, I keep having panic attacks for no good reason. Maybe the reason is just the world we live in right now.

I'm also introverted, living with chronic pain and still need to have enough energy to work and to parent.

Yes, it may sound like excuses but it's the truth. I don't think that people should stop posting about things people can do. Just maybe ease up on the idea that everyone must be doing said things. We all need a break sometimes.

Guns and School Shootings

Image: fox4kc.com

I don't often voice any views on here about hot button topics. Something that may change as we go into an election year. But I wanted to get something off my chest.

Yesterday, there was yet another school shooting. I got the news late because I was at choir practice - I sing in the women's choir at my church. As we were singing praises to the Lord, more people lost their lives to guns.

As a mom, I'm not terribly rational on this subject. I truly want my kid and everyone else's kid in America to be safe. So yes, even though this may not be a popular opinion, I want to take your guns.

Even before I was a parent, I've never liked guns. They make me feel extremely uncomfortable. I've fired a gun exactly once in my life. When I was in college, friends and I went to my roommate's house for the weekend. We went hunting and I was given the opportunity to shoot the hunting rifle. Firing that gun once solidified my intense dislike of guns.

My husband has guns, he's gone hunting quite a bit in his youth as many males growing up in Michigan too. All of his guns are at his parent's house currently which makes me happy. If they were here, they would be under lock and key that Emily would not have access too.

Even Todd, who is not uncomfortable with guns, thinks that we need stricter gun control laws in this country. He also thinks that nothing will be done because the NRA is such a loud voice in Washington, and it makes my heart sick to think he is right.

Yes, I know people will think 'guns don't kill people, people kill people.' They have a bit of a point, but guns make it so much easier to kill so many more people at once. It's sickening how easily you can kill with a gun.

While I do think that gun control laws would help quite a bit with this epidemic of shootings in our country, we also have to consider the people doing the shooting. Honestly you have to be pretty screwed up to even consider walking into a high school, college or movie theater and decide to shoot the place up.

The stigma of mental health issues has to get better. People with depression and other mental health issues need to be able to get the help they need. I suffer from depression, and without my anti-depressants, I'm a whole different person. I don't think even then I would want to kill anyone, except perhaps myself. But everyone's brains are different.

It's a sad state of affairs when we have mass shooting after mass shooting after mass shooting. All the while, much of the government is more concerned about governing what a woman does with her own body.

I pray that things will be able to change. I'm trying to do as much as I can by getting me the help I need and being close to my daughter so she doesn't end up following a darker path. But it's time for more to be done.