This week in my classroom, I spoke to my students about the importance of voting and what it means for us as a country. I was extremely honest with them. Of course, I could not tell them who I was voting for, but I could talk about the issues. I always said I would be 110% honest with them and expect the same in return. So, I told them when I was 18 and eligible to vote in my first election, I didn’t. At that age, as so many of us do, I didn’t feel there was a purpose, that my voice didn’t matter, and that it wouldn’t make a difference.
Now, if we think about all the people who were thinking the same way I did at that age, we have a problem cause then young people don’t go out to vote. “Young people,” how old am I?
As a teacher for almost 5 years, I've noticed that my students have a hard time even having an opinion on simple things, like what video do you want to watch? It is always so sad that many students do not participate, so after the classroom vote, I tell them you have an opinion. Use it! There is no indifference here; use your voice.
That is one of the biggest lessons I try to impart to them over my 16 weeks: you have a voice, so use it.
So, let's talk a bit about this election. Since I am not in the classroom and this is my business and space, I can proudly say I voted for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz as the next leaders of this country. It was a straightforward decision for me, and I am hopeful for the future. Now, for those of you who know Steph and me well, we are both in Florida. She is a Floridian, born and bred, and I am an import from New York. So, living in a red state is fascinating. I am not a very patriotic human; I don’t have any American Flag paraphernalia, and when I celebrate the Fourth of July, I do it for the food. I automatically assume that people who have American flags hanging outside of their homes are Republicans, which I know is not the case all the time, but I think the flag is a bit tainted for me and, I think, for quite a few of us. Just in my neighborhood alone, we have a good amount of Trump supporters with their flags proudly on their front lawns, but we also have quite a few people with Harris Walz signs, which, when I see them, I always text my mom out of excitement.
I think the fact that we all have a different opinion makes human beings so unique. Still, I also think it can be our downfall sometimes because some people are just not educated, or I should say most people are TikTok educated, which is another problem.
I am not going to sit here and bash the other side because that does nothing, but what I will say is if you haven’t watched the Presidential Debate, you MUST. It is an eye-opener to see how one of the candidates spreads false information; believe me, it is scary.
But that is all that I will say about that matter.
I want to talk about the most significant issue on the ballot and why I voted the way I did. So, let's talk about abortion. I am a cis-gendered, heterosexual, white, Jewish female. Just because I was born this way, which, by the way, I did not choose any of those things, just like none of you did, so I don’t know why so many people lead with hate; no one had a clipboard in the womb ticking off what they wanted to be. So why in the world, just because I was born this way, am I not allowed to have the same rights as my male counterpart? I am the human who will carry a human if I choose to, and that human will come out of my body. If I am not capable of adequately keeping that baby safe, providing them with a roof over their head and food to eat, then I deserve the right to be allowed to terminate the pregnancy. If, god forbid, I got raped and got pregnant; I deserve not to have to live with a constant reminder of the trauma. What happens if my life is at stake and my doctor is literally not allowed to help me, or they will go to JAIL, and so I die in childbirth? I deserve the right to terminate the pregnancy, no questions asked. For those of you who feel differently, and I have a few friends who have dads who are proud Trump supporters, think about for a second if your daughter or granddaughter was raped and was not allowed to get an abortion? It changes things when it gets personal, doesn’t it?
I often think that if men got periods instead of women, we would have a very different system of work in the world. I think if men were able to carry a child and deliver it, we would, without a doubt, be given paid maternity leave. If the people who founded this country came to see our world today, they would be appalled by us. I mean, if you think about Hamilton at the end of the musical, they are like, because of Eliza, we have all of these documents. The WOMAN did it. Right now, there is a beautiful musical called SUFFS on Broadway, which is all about the Suffragist movement and the fight women had to go through for the right to vote. If we do not go out and use our voices and our right to vote and Trump wins, we will go back in time, and in four years, we could be steps away from being in the world of The Handmaid's Tale.
So don't walk; RUN to vote! Talk to your friends and family about voting and what is at stake here. Because it is so much bigger than you think it is, it is the future of our country; it is literally life and death for those of us who have wombs. So, let’s vote for the future and move forward into the next stage. Please do not let us move backward.
Love always,
Your Liberal Democratic Cycle Breaker,
Emily
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