The past two weeks have been a series of suck. Several things have happened back-to-back and it has made me question the goodness of people. First, I got into an argument with about a dozen people from my neighborhood about drag queens. Yep, you heard that right. Drag queens. Back in October, we had a Halloween party with several different performers in attendance. Since we were new to the neighborhood, I put an invite out to our section of the neighborhood for anyone who wanted to come. I was very transparent about the performers we had, because, well, we live in the Bible belt. The majority of people responded very nicely, but there were a few (mostly men) that had a huge problem with us having drag queens at our own party at our own house. 4 months later, I was still getting shit from some seriously homophobic, male neighbors.
When we first moved here, I started a Facebook group for the hood for funny meme sharing, and generic HOA bitching. I mistakenly named the group Summers Corner Rebels, not realizing it would attract some of the wrong people to the group. It became more and more apparent, and then one of them threatened me with violence over the drag queens and said some other extremely inappropriate things.
Those who know me also know I tolerate absolutely ZERO when it comes to social injustice, bullying, and harassment. So, what did I do? I filmed a PSA for the neighborhood group and called these assholes out and reassured them their opinion has no effect on me whatsoever, and I am already planning a bigger and better party for next year. Then I changed the group name to Summers Corner Rainbows and changed the cover photo to a Black Lives Matter and Gay pride picture. We lost 30 something people overnight. I'm not f**king kidding. It is 2023 and there are still this many a$$holes out here.
After that apparently much needed "cleanse" the group got much better.
The NEXT thing that happened was the mass shootings this week. I've been trying to get our school district to allow parent volunteers to patrol the school grounds since May of 2022. They keep brushing me off. I even went to our city councilman about it. I was told there are "more important things that the school needs to take care of first." I won't mention WHO said that to me, but it was disheartening and maddening all at the same time.
Do you ever feel like you can see the future, and have a way to help prevent something bad from happening, but no one is listening? It sucks.
Finally, my whole family was blind sighted by my brother (he has schizoaffective disorder) being kicked out of what we thought was his permanent/long-term housing over N-O-T-H-I-N-G.
I stood up for my brother, very overtly, and now have likely become estranged from some family members, and it hurts. I'm still processing this.
I have zero remorse about all of these things I've spoken up and out about. I care so deeply about humanity that I will ALWAYS speak up. You must fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. Privilege is not what you had to deal with or the obstacles you have overcome. Privilege is what you HAVEN'T had to deal with. Use your privilege to be a big voice.
I've recently learned that many other people with ADHD often have a strong sense of social justice, and physically CANNOT stand by as a silent observer when they see someone being picked on or mistreated. I am absolutely no exception, and it is one of my traits I am actually most proud of. Has it and will it cost me relationships? Yep. But I will sleep soundly at night knowing I don't stay silent and let things just happen around me. Here's a pretty cool article that sums this up in a way I find ADHD reader friendly:
https://untappedbrilliance.com/adhd-and-an-unusual-sense-of-fairness/
All of this happening and I didn't even feel like celebrating when we hit the 1k mark in sales the other day. I did use this week as an excuse to really test out the Soulistic Roots Pillow and Linen Spray we carry in the Apothecary Collection. It definitely helps me feel more relaxed at night, so I'll call that one a winner!
1 comment
💯💯💯🩷🩷🩷 Joining that group NEOW!