I normally write a monthly blog and publish it on the first Sunday of the month.
And I wrote one last week that should have been published but unfortunately, technology failed me and just as I was finishing it up it completely disappeared into cyberspace never to be seen again.
So instead of spending a few hours on a beautiful summer day here in Colorado rewriting it, I made the decision to not worry about it and remind myself that nobody was going to suffer as a result of it never being read by anyone.
I gave myself a pass until it was time to write a blog for August…or at least that was the plan…until I decided to go to a women’s rights rally in downtown Boulder this past weekend coordinated by YWCA Boulder County, Women’s Collaborative of Boulder County, Women’s March, League of Women Voters and Boulder Valley Women’s Health.
Taking it to the streets to fight for women's rights
While I realize that our country is extremely divided on many issues and it may not be “professional” to express one’s personal opinion about something as controversial as abortion on a company blog like this, I have never shied away from standing up and having my voice be heard even if it might mean turning some customers away from wanting to do business with me.
But as a proud female business owner who works with so many different people struggling with so many different things, I cannot sit back and say nothing about how the recent Supreme Court decision could affect me as both a woman and business owner in the future.
I’m well beyond my reproductive years but I am still a woman with serious concerns about “what’s next for us?”. I was born in the 1960s when women didn’t have the right to get their own credit cards, buy a house, get into certain colleges, participate in some sports or even choose to have their tubes tied without the consent of a man. And even though those rights were eventually granted by the time I was an age that it would directly impact me, I am fully aware of what it took to gain those rights.
I am also fully aware of how easily those rights can be taken away.
And if you think that would never happen then you are, dare I say, naive and truly not paying attention to history and current events. More importantly, if you are a woman and you think that there is nothing you can do, then you are going to wake up many more mornings to SCOTUS rulings and Governors executive orders that are going to be an equally rude awakening like the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
Sign held by a 10-year-old girl attending the march with her parents...
...this is not how she should have to be spending her weekends.
I’m trying to imagine what my life would have been like if I wasn’t able to live independently and without a man controlling every aspect of it up until this point. I’ve had credit cards in my name since I got my driver’s license at 16 and if memory serves me correctly, my parents did need to co-sign because of the financial risk as a minor but that was understandable.
Obviously, I never would have been able to have had any of my own businesses through the years without the changes that have occurred with respect to women's rights in the past 50 years. I mean, I suppose I could have still had them but I never would have had complete control over any of the financial aspects. Getting a business loan as a woman before 1974 when the Fair Credit Opportunity Act was enacted was next to impossible. But guess who we have, in part, to thank for helping get that act passed? The same person we have to thank for paving the way for legal abortions…
So what does any of this have to do with being a professional home organizer?
Honestly, does it really matter?
Don’t get me wrong…what is going on does matter a lot to me, but I shouldn’t have to try to “connect the dots” to what I do every day to be allowed to express my opinions.
My clients are exhausted, frustrated, overwhelmed, angry, afraid and sometimes just numb from having to deal with all of the chaos swirling around all of us. And it is my job to get them to focus for the hours we are working together clearing not only the physical but also a lot of the emotional and mental clutter in their lives.
But how are any of us supposed to be able to stay focused these days?
Life is SO…FREAKING…HARD!
As I stood outside the courthouse this past Saturday surrounded by thousands of protesters under the intense Colorado sun on an extremely hot day, listening to some of our community leaders as well as our U.S. Representative, Joe Neguse, share their thoughts and words of wisdom, I couldn’t keep from crying.
So fortunate to live in a state with a Governor like Jared Polis
and a Congressman like Joe Neguse fighting for equal rights for all.
And I am not talking just a few tears. I am talking full blown ugly cry because that is exactly what the SCOTUS decision was for me…UGLY! If you don’t agree, that’s fine but please don’t leave nasty comments. It’s so unnecessary.
Even if you think you can convey the ultimate argument against abortion, the point of this is not to debate Pro-Choice vs. Pro-Life. The point of this blog is to express how as a woman in this country that I am not feeling heard or represented or respected because a bunch of old white dudes and a few rogue women decide to take away our ability to make choices for ourselves. And that doesn’t sit well at all for someone like me who was raised to always fight the good fight. I don’t know about some women in this country but the ones I know are PISSED OFF! We are so tired of spending our entire lives proving ourselves “worthy”.
Yes…worthy.
And if you aren’t a woman that feels this way, again, no need to debate this.
Men?
Yeah, don’t even!!!
You really don’t get to comment on how a woman should or should not feel…sorry.
We really appreciate your support in the fight for equal rights but please don’t think you understand what it is like to be a woman unless you happen to be transgender which is a whole other fight that falls into the “I can’t believe anyone has to fight for these rights” category.
Meanwhile, during the rally, there was a man that decided it was necessary to walk behind one of the speakers and hold up a sign that said “Stop Killing Babies”. While you would have expected the crowd to react in some way, the organizers had prepared everyone for this type of distraction and reminded us that everyone is, of course, entitled to exercise their right to freedom of speech. So without a second of hesitation, the volunteers for the event quickly but silently converged from either side of him and blocked him from view. He tried to move into the spotlight repeatedly but eventually gave up.
That ladies and gentlemen is what community is all about. Coming together for a common cause and not allowing all of the other noise to get in your way of accomplishing your goals and carrying out your mission. And I couldn’t be more proud of my community yet again. We have been through a lot these past few years including a mass shooting that killed ten innocent people at a grocery store and a massive fire that destroyed nearly 1100 homes and displaced almost 40,000 residents.
I have had clients that were affected by these tragedies as I have mentioned in previous blogs and many of them were at the rally too. They are my people…they are my community…and it doesn’t matter if I am a male or female business owner, I am so proud to know that I attract clients that share my values and believe in the greater good for all…not just those who share their skin type or religion or politics or sexual orientation or any of the other things that seem to continue to divide us as a nation.
Bottom line, I will never say I won’t do business with someone because they don’t believe in abortion. But I will go on record and say that I don’t want to do business with someone who would stand in the way of others being able to make that choice for themselves any more than I would stand in someone’s way to own a gun…except for semi-automatic weapons because there is absolutely no reason for anyone to have one of those except to kill as many people as possible as quickly as possible and that is not just my opinion. But that is a topic for another day.
From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all of the organizers and volunteers for putting together what was a peaceful and impactful event.
With that said, that can’t be the end of what we do.
Many of my friends are not particularly comfortable going to these types of events and I totally get it. Who knows what wackadoodle may show up and start spraying bullets everywhere?
Trust me, I was surveying the crowd as best as I possibly could the entire time. And I was looking at the top of buildings and watching cars driving by as we marched down Broadway, a very busy street in Boulder. Luckily, the vast majority of cars supported us by honking their horns and giving us the "thumbs up". Of course, there were some that were annoyed about the traffic jam it generated but the police were there to do their best at moving things along and I didn't hear of one incident where anyone was threatened by a passerby.
So I hope those of you that have the ability to reach out to any of the multitude of organizations that are working tirelessly to fight for women’s rights and offer whatever time or money you can will, in fact, do it.
Being complacent is not an option.
History has proven that over and over and over again.
If you have read this far, I really do appreciate it. But please, don’t let this be all you do.
Whatever you can do, JUST DO IT as if your livelihood and possibly your life depends upon it.
Be well...be safe...and please VOTE IN EVERY ELECTION!!!
