This is my first entry here, and I had been planning on making a post that dealt with links and numbers and all sorts of information at some point, but have never gotten around to it. Instead I have to share a personal experience with someone, anyone who will read it. So here it goes...
A coworker of mine just came into my office and asked about what was in the news today. I pulled up CNN.com (against better judgment) and mentioned the breaking news about the Russian-made missile that the dutch are saying took down MH17 which I thought was interesting.
At the bottom half of the page however, there was a picture of Alicia Machado just barely showing.
Now, I know that this coworker is a Trump supporter. He is mostly a “anybody but a democrat” voter and even more of a “anybody but Hillary” one, so I usually stay away from engaging in political conversations with him, but just smile and let him rant from time to time.
This time I could not sit back and do that. He saw the picture, groaned and said:
“Oh god, her. She must be a real genius. Give me a break...”
And I lost it.
Most people will tell you I am a very calm individual. I don’t get angry often, but when I do, I hear I am scary. Probably because of my usual calm demeanor, nobody expects the claws to come out and it catches them off guard. And boy did I lay into him.
I said fairly calmly “Thats it, get out of my office.” He laughed. “No, I’m serious, get out now!” Still a bit of laughing, mixed with confusion this time. “I am so sick of all this bulls*** and people treating this like it is some big joke when we may have this f***ing idiot elected to be our president and I am not just going to sit around and listen to this anymore! Please leave now. Its not funny anymore!”
***This would also be a good time to note that I do not swear often, so that only adds to the effect.
He turned and walked out and I immediately shut my door behind him. Now I have a flashing message on my taskbar which I assume is from him, but I will not be reading it. Not now.
Maybe I am just sick of the media and the coverage of this election as if everything that each candidate says is equally bad, even if that means having to distort one side of the debate to force errors where not really existed. Maybe it was listening to Morning Joe in the car this morning and hearing how horrified Mika was by Trump’s doubling down on the weight of a woman who has probably influenced more lives than he ever will. Or maybe I just have not had my coffee today and am extremely irritable.
No. I think this is more. I now have an 11-week old, beautiful daughter who means everything to me. I see in her a life that has not yet been subjected to cruelty, insult or hardness. She is pure and she is happy. We should all strive to be the people who set the examples for our own children and those of others. I will not let her grow up in a world where the leader will and attack and try to discredit women because they do not look the way he thinks they should. A world where you start the race 100 yards behind everyone else, just because you are female. And I especially do not want her to grow up in a world where her gender and looks means more to 45% of the country than all the good she has done with her life up until that point.
I just hope that nobody EVER treats my daughter the way that Donald Trump and his deplorable followers treat women, because I may yell and swear when it is someone else’s daughter, but I cannot fathom what my reaction will be when it is my own.
Thanks for reading!
Wednesday, Sep 28, 2016 · 2:34:21 PM +00:00 · shabby46
Update: Thanks for the responses everyone! I just gave some more $ to Hillary in honor of my daughter.
I am keeping my door closed today and listening to Grateful Dead (American Beauty always relaxes me) so I can concentrate on my work and not have to deal with any more shenanigans from down the hall.
I hope you all are having a wonderful day!
Wednesday, Sep 28, 2016 · 2:53:54 PM +00:00
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shabby46
Update #2: Wow, this is on that rec list that I always see other people get excited over. I just wanted to vent and didn’t want to wake my wife if she was still sleeping after being up all night with the baby. Thanks again for listening!
