I’ve read a lot of books. Mostly as a child, teen, college student and–erg, um, well, then it kinda dropped off for a bit until I got scolded by a low-schooled-yet-erudite man who was like, “What!? You need to read, girl!” And so thankful I am for his harsh-but-loving admonition when I was in my mid-20s and “done with reading.”
Truthfully, I don’t remember much of the books I’ve read, not the plots, the characters, the main events, whatever. Books are experiences to me, and less so treasures I lock away, keep and remember.
I’ve even found myself reading a book, thinking I had some great premonitory skills in that I had a sense of what was going to happen next, only to discover, a chapter or two later, I’d already read the same book years/decades back! (This happens to me with movies too, but it’s a bit more jarring to experience with a book.)
dis one i rememberz
But if there was one book that HIT ME and stayed with me, it was The Handmaid’s Tale. by Margaret Atwood. (I’ve been hesitant to watch the serialized show, as the book itself was so impactful, though maybe I’ll get to it one of these days.) The book was assigned reading for a Women in Literature college course I took 40 years ago. A college reading assignment: one among many, almost all of which have been long forgotten.But this book; this one stayed with me.
The primary impact of that particular book happened to me in the first chapter or so. It was when I realized, “F#*&! Control over one’s body may not be as much of a given right as I thought, depending on The Who’s-in-Charges’ beliefs, attitudes and manipulations.” Now,
with Roe v Wade undermined by the SCOTUS, I know many people are understandably freaked out, angry, pissed, scared, worried, motivated, sad and all sorts of all-the-feelings now.
u.b.u.
It’s not my place, nor my prerogative, to tell anyone how to feel nor how to act, though I can share I feel a silver lining to all that’s happening now. I feel a wellspring so deep of Nooooooo!
boomerang
I believe in the depth of my being that this SCOTUS (and anti-choice-folks’) coupe attempt to take control of others’ bodies has sparked the flames of a fire of which they (the current victors) can’t even begin to imagine how brightly it will burn.
While the current reality of possible laws changed and rights restricted is real and legit, I believe wholly and fully people of many walks of life will rise up and say, firmly, No. — No to the reduction of rights. No to the reduction of freedoms won. And No to the diminution of agency: one’s right to love as one chooses; one’s right to be and live and do as one chooses; one’s right to enjoy being a sexual being as one chooses; and one’s right to live the life one chooses to live without harm to another individual being.
the soul’s calling
Agency, choice, freedom … These are not rights granted by any government. These are the deepest callings of our souls. And no man (nor woman) can stand in the way of such a calling.
Our bodies, our choice.
Our love, our choice.
Our path, our choice.
