For those of you who don’t know me, I stay in my house because as a “most vulnerable”: my chances of death from coronavirus are statistically very high. I sat out the George Floyd/BLM protests for that reason. I voted by mail for the first time in my life for that reason, and it was the first time in 25 years that I hadn’t worked the polls.
BUT
I am a mother who lost a son.
And if the troops come here, I will ignore my fear, and stand between the oppressors and other women’s children because there are things worth dying for, and things worse than death.
It is unacceptable that we have an Orange Menace in the White House who is so terrified of losing re-election that he is willing to endeavor to pit American against American. He is willing to send armed troops to kill innocent people. Standing up against tyranny is worth dying for.
The idea that troops would come FOR NO REASON to a world I love, and that they would go unanswered, is a form of cowardice that, in me, would be worse than death.
With the model of the young man in Tienanmen Square who stood up against the tanks in my mind’s eye, I will stand. With my little cotton mask and my bottle of hand sanitizer against the guns. As a 5’4” buffer against all I have fought my whole life against. I WILL STAND.
If you are a mother, I hope you will stand with me.
If you are not a mother, but have the HEART of a mother, I hope you will stand with me.