Time of Freedom

Notice! This site uses binary terms when referring to people. If you are offended by this statement, then please feel free to leave the site. I don’t want to offend anyone ... I simply think we should look at things rationally. (I could be asking too much of mere mortals.)
       In writing diverse articles, my topics rarely need to include a person’s sexual identification and frankly, I don’t care. To each their own. I believe everyone is a standup human ... until I learn otherwise.
       It matters not to me, if you’re LGBTQxxxxxyz, or while we’re at it, black, white, yellow, brown, red, calico, or an alien purple people eater .... if you’re a good “person,” you’re ok in my book. You don’t need to agree with me, but I’ll respect your rights, if you respect mine.
      So if you feel like taking a minute or two to read my reasonings behind the notice ...

Freedom in our Time ... 
What set me off to create and post the above warning and this page? I’ve sat on the sidelines watching our society erode, shaking my head and feeling more pain with each progressive idiocy that comes along, long enough. Reading this headline and article was the last straw ... “Air Force Academy diversity training tells cadets to use words that 'include all genders,' drop 'mom and dad',” Fox News / Yahoo – Wed, September 21, 2022 at 11:00 PM.

I’m all for gender equality. The identification, though, needs to come from the individual. No one should be expected to automatically know, nor should we be forced to fumble with terms. The Air Force Academy’s diversity training is insulting, telling their cadets how to speak, regardless of their upbringing or personal preferences—including male/female terms. The more our speech, manner of dress, and personality are structured by a government, company, or other entity of power, the less freedom we have in this “free” country.

Since my department payroll position at U.C. Berkeley in the 1970s, I have been open-minded and enjoyed the company of many types of people. I worked, lunched, and gossiped with gays, Native Americans, all variations of hyphenated Americans, and relished conversations with Elizabeth Einstein. Weed was rampant, I attended a Jane Fonda protest, Speedos were “in” at the pool ...

Over the years, a varied mix of friends and acquaintances shaped my writing, allowing me to find and write about the good in nearly anyone. My writings aren’t concerned with who “identifies” as what, and I really don’t care. I’m more interested in what they do, not what they are. Today, however, we are fast becoming a society of “thought police” (à la Orwell’s 1984). Before I’m hauled off to jail for saying “she,” I need to speak my piece.  

What good is “freedom of speech” if we’re made afraid to speak?  I find it abhorrent that the citizens of the “free” United States are being coerced in some sectors, to use gender-neutral language when ONLY 1.2 million people* out of more than 333 million (as of September 24, 2022) identify as non-binary. That will likely rise as we become more adjusted to a society that embraces it; but forcing our children of today ... or tomorrow ... to be “non-binary” before they even know what the term means, is child abuse. Allowed to express who they are is a good thing—making them express in a certain way is not. So many are made to grow up without an enjoyable childhood as it is ... just let them be kids.

Face it, science is science ... with few exceptions, when we enter this world, we are either male or female. And I’m SO sorry—males cannot get pregnant. Trust me, there are more than a few men I’d love to wish that on!

What we do with ourselves after that first slap on the tush is up to us. Yes, we should be given the choice, but we should also have the time to discover for ourselves, who we are ... and that is not at six or seven years old. (Which has been suggested, and is much more complicated than can be discussed here.)

Time and Timing is Everything ...
Time is the key factor in life. When we’re young, we think we’ll live forever. We don’t. More than money, power, or sex (the three possessions that apparently make the world go ‘round), Time is our most valuable asset. Ask yourself ... how do you want to spend it? Hating everyone? How sad that some people do.  

Every new generation changes society, as each makes its own way in the world. Since the

advent of computers, most especially the Internet, changes in these modern times are more detrimental than ever, to human values and mores. Isolating in its nature, it fractures the family. Unfortunately, we have yet to learn how to discuss the issues that are changing us, without losing respect for each other—and love for our fellow humans.

Why do social media bullies (and the "thought police") refuse to allow people to exercise their freedom of speech to voice a choice or perspective, even when spoken with respect? They’re not very “sociable.” R-E-S-P-E-C-T ... we all deserve it. Timing is everything and the time is now.

So, it’s my time ... 

Since I’m old and may not have all that much more time to speak for myself, I’m coming out of today’s misused closet and asking, where are MY rights? MY parents were male and female ... I IDENTIFY as female, my brothers were male—oh, and while we’re at it, I’m a White, Republican conservative. (Before you get all judgmental, I am NOT an extreme Republican and have, over the years, voted Democrat—just not recently.)

In case it matters, I’m not a stupid person, but made a lifetime of stupid financial decisions, leaving me monetarily depleted (so you can stop thinking I’m “privileged”). What’s left is someone trying to eke out a dignified “little life,” subsisting on Social Security only, in the once-golden state of California that is but a shell of its former self, tarnished beyond recognition.

The times, they are a-changin’ ...  I may have been born here, but I don’t have to die here. It just may be time for another change ...

Now y’all know—don’t ever call me “they.”

 

 

 

 

 

*According to a 2021 study by the Williams Institute 

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