I would like to first start with contradicting the title of this. With all of the debates currently going on in the western world about the abortion ban laws, I would bring my perspective to the growing conversation. Right now, if I am not mistaken Alabama, Ohio, Missouri, and Georgia are trying to get a bill passed to make abortions illegal, as soon as they can detect a heartbeat which can be as early as four weeks, and criminalize women who seek them out. Currently, Missippi was denied on their heartbeat bill; however, the rest of the states have not been and are pushing hard for it. So to get back to contradicting my title Pro-Choice or Life I want to point out that firstly, you do not necessarily need to be either. If you are pro-life, you can be for yourself, your family, and maybe even some of the people you decide to hang out with, however, you can respect others beliefs and rights to their own body like many other rights. I don’t need to believe in your religion to respect that you believe in it, and I don’t need to be gay to accept, nor do I need to be a scientist to respect that you didn’t want to be a doctor. Respecting what someone else is doing does not mean that you want it for yourself, but it is allowing others their personal freedom to do what they believe in for them. Secondly, though abortions can affect men, it does not affect them as much as it does to women in terms of their body changes, and the primary responsibility of childbearing is on her. Men should not be deciding what women can do with their body even if it can affect them. I believe this conversation carries so much stigma from religion and different viewpoints that give a lot of judgment to either side. I think if we could come together and respect all people and their decisions to do what they believe is best for themselves and no one else this would be easier to talk about, because if I respect you enough not to tell you what to do with your body then respect me too and show me the same.
Category: Politics
Elections. Do You Feel The Pressure Yet?
The next federal election feels like it’s coming up soon. This coming October we will vote to have a new prime minister in office. A new person will be running our country and having the power to make extensive changes within our society — control over our rights, our rules, our lives. I have already started to read about the candidates because I want my vote to be educated and not pressured or influenced by my family, friends, or the media. This election is significant to me because it is the first federal election that I will be participating. I feel a lot of pressure to vote because I believe everyone should since we have the right, but I also feel the pressure to vote the right way…. what? What does that even mean to vote right? It means to sway with the masses and create the least amount of waves in the political pool. I want to change what that means to vote right. I want it to define it as if you feel that your decision will do the maximum good for our society, then it is right.
Budget Cut Me Out Of It
Over the last month, which in retrospect has only been 14 days – wow feels much longer – my mind has continued to go back and forth from my day to day issues and politics specifically to do with schooling. If you read my post ‘Left or Right’ then you may already have an understanding as to why this topic is hard for me. Commonly I think of the conservative side as businessmen and businesswomen who are very traditional, and the liberal side as human rights advocates who adapt and change with society. I grew up and still live in a household where business is all around me as my father is a businessman and has his own company. This opened my mind to see perspectives I would have normally been closed off to in politics mainly. I find myself nervous to say my opinion on the budget cuts in Ontario’s education system for a couple of reasons. I don’t agree with every aspect of it, but I advocate for the cuts, I have had many excellent teachers who I would hate to lose their jobs, and I don’t like Doug Ford. Basically the liberal in me. I believe that though I don’t want teachers to lose their jobs its because I feel bad, and I know that emotional decisions are not always the right ones. I also know that many people become teachers for the wrong reasons, I also understand that some classes could be filled more, along with taking 4 classes online is not that hard at all. I know that paying for art programs that are having a declining enrollment rate is useless. However, another part of me feels terrible that some of my favorite teachers could lose their job while terrible ones could stay. Or that the kids who love art and hate their other classes will be affected by this, and that kids with autism need help. The conversation with myself on this topic goes back and forth, but the logical side of me always lands on the cuts. If I had one wish other than our government not getting us in billions of dollars worth of debt, it would be to CUT ME OUT OF THIS.
Right or Left
I find myself stressed over this choice, am I left wing, or am I right wing. Am I liberal or conservative? Why do I have to be either? What if I like some ideologies from both sides? What does that make me? I believe that voting is so important, maybe its because I am a woman and I am a woman of color, or maybe its because I see the amount of value voting has, or perhaps it is both. I also believe that many people do not feel this way and those reasons I could not tell you. But what I do know is that choosing is hard, defining yourself as left wing or right wing, liberal or conservative is hard and that it gets in the way of why we’re voting. We vote to choose who will be running our town, city, province, state, and country. We are not voting to choose sides. I wish we could just take the hostility out of being one or the other, and only voted who we felt would do the best for us as a collective society. I personally get very stressed when I talk about politics and have an intense inner dilemma because of the way each side is spoken about, and because I don’t know what wing I identify as and feel pressured to choose one. I find when I agree with the right wing the left wing part of me struggles and vice versa. Where is this pressure coming from I ask? Not my family, not my friends, but from the media and society. So instead of challenging myself to choose, I will challenge myself not to and to feel comfortable with not knowing. I will confront myself to do as I say and vote who I believe will do the best for us.
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