Last post of the night, I promise

"There are some parents who felt that love of a country implies no freedom to criticize the country. I wonder if they also felt that to criticize or attempt to correct their children meant that they did not love them? This isn't what love means."

-Madeline L'Engle

Learning how and when to criticize was a part of my growing up. Nowadays, I tend to hold myself back from speaking my mind about all the shit I see going on around me, basically bringing attention to any group that is being oppressed in any way (mainly women, because this is what I relate to and what I notice), and I hope I'm not being bullied into silence. Because when you say things people don't like, request change in the world, admit that, as far as relationships between men and women as a whole go, we are far from perfection; people get upset and tell you to stop bitching. But I know I don't respond well to criticism, so it's understandable that people shy away from it. It's uncomfortable, stepping on toes. But we HAVE to or things will never improve. The first step is bringing attention to a problem. If you never do, then you are essentially giving up.

I really want to be listened to when I have something important to say. I don't want to stop talking about this because I don't feel that it is important to anyone else but me.