Like An Ocean Being Warmed By The Sun

apanoplyofsong:

kay-emm-gee:

Today, I woke up, read the news, and I cried. Today I woke up scared: as a woman, as a bisexual woman, as a friend, as a daughter to a father who took forty years to come out of the closet because it wasn’t safe for so long.

I voted, and I’m proud of that, but there is so much more I can do. There is so much more I need to do. So, today, I also make a pledge. I make a pledge to not only want change, but to be change.

Today I pledge to be better about standing up to bigotry and small-mindedness, to instead spread love and acceptance, big- and small-kindedness. Today I pledge to volunteer, to take action in my community to make sure everyone’s rights are validated, sustained, understood, and respected. I pledge to be loud and proud in telling women–all women–that they matter, that they are important and excellent, that the glass ceiling was meant to be broken and that we can shatter it with our resilience and brilliance, that they are never, never, never asking for it and instead should always be asked about it and listened to when they say no, stop, do not. 

I pledge to be more diligent in recognizing the privilege that I have and what I can do to make the gap between myself and others disappear. I pledge to be quiet and listen when I am asked to, so that voices who know better than I about how to fight racism, homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia (and so much more) can take the reins and ring clear, loud, and true. I pledge to stand in solidarity with those voices, in the face of opposition and hate, so that we can build a better, more accepting world for ourselves and those who come after us.

I pledge all of these things because he is not going to make America great again. We, the people are going to make America great again, and we will do that by standing by each other’s sides, supporting and protecting each other when times are dark, by celebrating each other’s victories, no matter how small.

We can build an America that we want, one that we can be proud of, and we can start today. That is what I pledge: to wipe away the tears, to stand up, to make choices that will make me a better person, a better American. That is the real fight, and it is by no means over. That fight–the daily, yearly, lifetime one–that is how we win, and we can. 

Today I pledge to join that fight. Do you? 

I hope you don’t mind me adding on, Kayla, but I spent the night and this morning brainstorming how to help the groups that will be most vulnerable. Volunteer, donate, ask for donations for Christmas/birthday presents, look for local branches and affiliates they work with, etc.

By no means a complete list, but here are a few places to start:

• Planned Parenthood
• health care provider, educators, advocates, global partner dedicated to affordable medical care
  
• RAINN
• the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization
• ACLU
• works to defend individual rights guaranteed by the Constitution and laws
  
• NAACP
• advocate for the equality and rights of all people, without race-based discrimination
  
• The Trevor Project
• leading crisis intervention for LGBTQ+ youth
  
• Children’s Health Fund
• helps bring medical care to children in disadvantaged or vulnerable communities
  
• Amnesty International
• focused on fighting injustice and promoting human rights.
  
• Girl Scouts
• aims to build girls “of courage, confidence, and character,  who make the world a better place.”
  
• local domestic violence and battered women shelters
  

(via conworthylemon)