USING MY VOICE TO CREATE CHANGE
Raising my voice, if that is what it takes to be heard, is not being a hysterical female. Declaring my anger without apology is not being a bitchy female. Allowing myself to feel my rage when I am confronted with abuses of power which reduce human beings to things, I am not being a bleeding heart. Well, actually I am being a bleeding heart, and I freely choose to let my heart be wounded by such outrageous behavior. I am a woman who seeks to see and tell the truth. I am a woman who seeks to speak from my center and to name what I see in the service of healing, in the service of life, in the service of love. I am a woman who has experienced the power of words and language to tear down and diminish or to build up and revere. I am a woman who struggles to use language as a vehicle for both; for tearing down what separates us, and for building up what unites us; for diminishing our fears of each other, and for revering the holy mystery that is each unique person. Using language clearly and forcefully is one of the ways in which I become more powerful. It is my right, and I will no longer be intimidated by the voices of others who seek to silence me. I am a woman using my voice to create change.