Political

I had to take a break from my normal posts about school to take advantage of the political climate currently saturating daily life. Some people feel overwhelmed or rather insignificant with all the changes bubbling in our country’s policies right now but I think it’s exciting and I figured what better way to allow my opinions to take shape than to do something very American—blog about it.

I feel very fortunate to be able to participate in such a climactic period in American history. When I think about the changes our country faces, I’m almost giddy with anticipation. I can feel the change in the air like mustard gas, slowly creeping across the ground seeping into the soil and filtering through the cracks under the doors of every American home. Survival or certain death seems to be the only choices offered by the mainstream media. Only I have shied away from both those areas of conventional wisdom. I believe now is the time for unstoppable change. Now is the time for revolution. I refuse to sit back and let decisions be made on my behalf, or on the behalf of my family. I reject the belief that our society is functioning at an acceptable level. We are capable of so much more and now is the time to prove not to our country and the world but to ourselves, as a united people, that we are capable of enormous good.

I was raised very conservatively, mostly due to very strict religious beliefs imposed by my parents so there was never much discussion about worldly issues or ideas. Most of what I could gather about social issues came from Sunday school and were very biased and close-minded. I was never encouraged to ask questions because that was equated to a lack of faith which was very much looked down on. It wasn’t until I reached high school that I started questioning the protective bubble I was enclosed in and began methodically searching for a sharp object to burst that bubble and take my first steps toward intellectual freedom.

I am frequently snubbed into the more liberal category but I think that stems directly from my upbringing. I was always told what to do, how to think, what to believe in and so it goes against my very identity and everything I’ve fought long and hard to repair in my own life to reach out and tell those around me how to live their lives or what to believe in. I don’t plan to go back on that philosophy now, but I can’t let another day pass without taking this time to allow my readers a brief peek into my personal ideology.

Same-Sex Marriage

I believe everyone has the same rights to marry; sexual orientation should not make any difference whatsoever. There’s no sanctity of marriage unless you and your spouse decide and prove through your personal actions, that it is sacred to you. I believe this is a form of discrimination and it should be corrected by allowing a change to the Constitution to allow marriage between whoever is willing to make the commitment. All couples should be allowed a civil union, and then the individual churches can decide if they will recognize or allow same-sex marriages to take place in their specific rites. This will keep “sacred” certain acts as practiced by religions but still allow marriage for everyone under the law.

Abortion Rights

The sides about abortion are most frequently drawn between people who are Pro-Life and people who are Pro-Abortion. It is ludicrous to think any woman in her right mind would be pro-abortion. No one is pro-abortion. It’s referred to as Pro-Choice and that’s all it means; choice. In a perfect world every baby would be planned for and healthy but as everyone knows, this is not reality. There are women who make desperate decisions with whether or not to keep their pregnancy and I would never feel comfortable making that kind of decision for them. Although, I would never have an abortion myself, I would never think for one second I could make that decision for another woman. I would never agree with anyone forcing a pregnancy on someone who isn’t ready, just like I would never agree to force someone to end their pregnancy when they really wanted a child.

Religion

I live in Utah. Need I say more? I don’t care who you worship or who you DON’T worship. I just wish people wouldn’t use their religion as a façade for hatred and bigotry. When I see religious groups spending so much effort and time and money to speak out against sexual orientation or even other religious groups it helps to remind me why I do not choose to belong to a religion and also, why I do not expect my young children to worship blindly. When they are old enough to make an educated decision of their own regarding their spirituality and the kind of relationship they decide to have with whatever God they want to recognize, I will support them 100% In the mean time the values I teach are basic-love and be loved, be a friend, help others and never stop learning.

Education

Education in our country is substandard to say the least. Our teacher’s are expected to not only teach our children, but help raise them as well. I have a child in the public education system and my experience with volunteering with his classroom is that there are many kids there who have not been taught how to respect their teachers or education in general. I believe starting early in the home to teach our children how to respect education is the way to promote better students and give our teachers time to actually teach instead of disciplining misbehavior or teaching basic manners and respect. These things should be introduced to kids long before they reach the public school system.

Healthcare

Basic healthcare should not be a luxury afforded to those wealthy enough to pay for it. Basic healthcare should be a right as a United States citizen and provided by our government free of charge. I’ve worked for a very large insurance company in the past so I have firsthand experience with how evil these corporations are. These companies are only concerned with dollar signs and rarely consider the actual human impact of their actions. There’s no reason, in a culture as advanced as ours, that our citizens should be denied the most basic of cares. And I believe this also includes preventative care. Some of the most expensive healthcare needs are for conditions that could have been prevented or taken care of much at a much lower expense if caught in the early stages. This is a subject that is very dear to me as I work every day toward my nursing degree. I hope one day the changes will be made that allow every American the chance to seek out medical care without penalty.

I know many of my ideas are grandiose but it’s my belief that as long as I’m dreaming big, change will happen. I will never give up wanting to be a better person-a better mother, wife, friend and student. Because if I do, all my work and dreams and passion will have gone to waste and I can never allow that to happen.