What gives you courage to give voice to your truth? What sets the stage for your confidence?
When I pulled this card the other morning, I thought about Dumbo’s feather that helped him fly when his unique ears were already enough to make wings to take flight. Dumbo couldn’t believe it was possible unless he held onto that feather, which carried a magical message, a whisper of “you can do it!”
What truth do you need courage to share? For me, I’m wanting to talk about voting, and talk of politics has for too long been considered too impolite and taboo, too risky to venture. But sometimes things change, suddenly.
“What kind of message would change what you’re planning? Who needs your message?”
Most messages these days seem to come in through our inbox, or text messages chimed by our ring-tone of choice (mine sounds like a bird whistle). Lately I’ve had messages out of the blue that have led to new authors to work with. I am inspired by their ideas and creative courage. One woman is writing about her early childhood living under Nazi occupation in Holland, watching her father be part of the resistance of WWII. Her written phrase “For whom will we risk?” really stuck with me.
There’s the personal messages, or messages from the Universe, and then there’s the political messages that are in fact personal. Ever since the phone call from my sister saying, “I just heard that Biden stepped down and then endorsed Kamala Harris,” I’ve been thinking about those sudden and unplanned moments that change everything. That call you to speak up.
Do you feel like that Biden’s message changed everything? Like infusing the world with a newfound energy of hope and possibility because a leader dared to step aside? Did it create cautious optimism? Sudden activism? It changed the game for me, at least, and set the stage for ~100 days I hadn’t quite committed to engage in.
Last week I sat with my dad on the couch watching one of the organizing calls last week for Harris, and the night before that, with a girlfriend watching the replay of White Women for Harris (Answer the Call 2024).
I was imagining what my mom would have been saying if she were still alive, sitting with us on our couch? She was the kind of woman who called her Congressional representatives and left voice messages. She was also a teacher who wanted to be sure her kindergarteners and their families had enough food to eat, whose heart broke when school shootings became the norm. Who had to keep working through her chemo treatments for stage-four ovarian cancer because pre-existing conditions meant she had to work to have health insurance. We sat on that same couch in 2018 watching the hearings to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, sharing the anger at the gaslighting and lies and then outcome. One of my earliest memories is picketing with my parents outside the apartment of Denver’s Catholic bishop, protesting the Vietnam War and the flag being on the church altar. I didn’t understand details back then, but I felt the energy and the example of standing up for your beliefs, especially when they’re complicated.
But my mom isn’t here and I’m the mom now, feeling the future’s at stake. My mystic DJ offered up the song by The Fixx several days in a row with the lyrics “It’s time to take a risk for the future generation.”
So the day Biden stepped down I bought a tote bag and customized it. Started carrying it as my new purse, unsure how others would react. A week later I had the courage to share the pic on Instagram. It felt good to be sharing my “why’s’ but why was I so worried about posting something “political?” About sharing my truth?
What gives you courage to give voice to your truth? Sometimes it’s the words someone else offers to succinctly say what you also feel to be Truth, like that tote bag:
I am voting [for Kamala Harris] because I care about... Ending gun violence. Solving the climate crisis. Access to safe drinking water for everyone. Women’s rights. Address and ending systemic racism. Affordable housing. Ending food insecurity. Protecting reproductive healthcare. Protecting our vote and expanding voter access. Access to affordable education. Human treatment of immigrants. Affordable healthcare. Access to mental health services. Defending the separation of church and state. LGBTQIA rights.
Or this quote by Parker J. Palmer from his book Let Your Life Speak:
Sometimes it’s words on a t-shirt that do the trick, and the jokes-on-him comment about cat ladies that makes us all smile and realize how much we have in common:
Which is why I had the courage to make another post today sporting my new t-shirt (thanks to the same local gift shop in Palisade, Harlow’s) and now share it with you:
Snowflake and I would like to say, “Vote like a girl!” My mom would’ve agreed.
*** Girl issues are HUMAN issues! ***
Girl issues are much more than the freedom to make decisions about her own health, following her faith as an individual but not having government control her body. Girl issues are voting so that our LGBTQIA kids-friends-family can love who they love, with the right to be legally married. Girl issues are supporting teachers of all kinds having good pay and safe classrooms, who can whole teach the truth about our country’s history and not fearing shootings! And having a Dept. of Education, which Project 2025 would abolish. Girl issues are clean water and air and care for our Earth and other human beings. Voting like a girl also means choosing leaders who are NOT liars, convicted felons, hate-filled gaslighters, etc.
What issues do you care about? What would make it possible to have honest, open conversations about that? What do you most want to ask or share?
I’m grateful for the friends who have shown up open-hearted for good talks lately, and for affirming comments that keep giving me courage to show up with my voice, my photos, my opinions.
Maybe it’s like past-life fears of beheadings or a lifetime of peace-keeping people-pleasing positivity that have made me afraid to give voice to my Truth. Or fear of local bullies who fly their flags upside down or the unknowns who vandalized Obama signs years ago on my parent’s and friends’ yards. Just maybe it’s time to take a risk “for future generations” and share what I’m feeling, thinking and voting.
Heather Cox Richardson’s Letters from an American on Substack offer historical perspective that give me context and courage.
Vote.org lets you check the accuracy of your voter registration, register to vote, see what’s on your ballot, and more!
Project 2025 is a terrifying document we must not discount or take lightly. Here are some myths and facts about it.
https://www.democracydocket.com/analysis/what-is-project-2025-and-why-is-it-alarming/
Cat Ladies for Kamala (and Pet lovers of all kinds) make me smile. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/30/kamala-harris-cat-ladies
Well said, Shelly! I hope to offer comments later.
Hi Shelly. I promised I'd be back with more comments. So much going through my head after reading your newsletter. Voice. So elusive, so intangible, at least at times. Have you read/listened to the podcast done a while back by Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen? Titled "Renegades". All about voice. Bruce speaks of searching for his voice, being a quiet person by nature, trying over and over to find his voice with his music. Well worth a glance.
For me, voice is growing in importance. I too am often afraid to speak about what troubles me, concerns me. I have tried in some of my blog stories to address gun violence in schools, an issue that deeply pains me. I don't have a large following, so it's not likely that I'll get negative feedback. But lately I am moved by Hemingway's quote: write hard and clear about what hurts. So much hurts these days. But I do see hope, finally, in recent events. Occasionally I feel like giving up on writing. But it's all I have. That's where my voice lives.
Thanks for prompting my reply. Keep up the great work!