Divided

Posted on
Do we have to be on one side or the other of the divided?

I’ve been pretty distracted with our house build this year, but I haven’t stopped observing how divided we’ve become. 

Who can’t observe it?

I’m not a conspiracy nut, well perhaps the nut part, but sit back and look through my eyes as to what I’ve observed.

Here are the daily rantings from the MSM and social accounts…

We are:

Divided by religion.  Everyone hates Islam, and Jews and Christians.

Divided by race.  Everyone hates blacks and whites and Asians.

Divided by class. Everyone hates people with money, any amount more than they have.

Divided by political beliefs.  Everyone who voted for Trump is a racist, evil and selfish and everyone who voted for Biden is not.

Divided by the status of the environment.  Everyone who uses plastic water bottles and straws are evil, but masks in the ocean are ok.

And now we are divided by a virus that was man-made. 

Divided by the treatment of said virus. Those who believe there are therapeutics to prevent it and/or lessen said virus and the power of natural immunity and those who agree with a government mandated therapeutic that does not eliminate said virus. 

And now we’re divided by the creation of a “travel” card that will eventually eliminate our freedoms one by one, if we do not act and say, as we are told.

Dividing us is the easiest way to remove us from our family ties, our friends, our beliefs, and our morals. 

Removing what unites us helps create the “new world order” made up of group think rather than of individual beliefs. “Critical thinking” is taught to second graders, but many adults have forgotten how or are too lazy, to critically think for themselves.

When you have all the power: MSM, funded politicians, social media, entertainment industry to project only one way of thinking, you eliminate the voices of those with whom you disagree. Dividing people doesn’t eliminate their truths; it only creates suspicion and more division.

So why are we listening to organizations who tell us how we should feel about one another?  Why don’t we just look into the faces of our friends, our neighbors, the people waiting in line at the grocery and observe the love they have for their family, their jobs, and friends.  They didn’t need to run through an approved checklist for those feelings, they just have them because they are humans! 

My friend is going in for brain surgery tomorrow to remove a tumor.  Do you need to know her religion, her race, if she has money, who she voted for or if she’s been vaccinated to pray for her?  And if you do not have a God, do you need all those prerequisites to wish her well?

I’m pretty sure the answer is no.

I wish you all a blessed Christmas spent with loving family and friends, undivided, with the realization that we are all precious human beings no matter what color, sex, religion, amount of money, who we voted for or our vax choice.

And, Nancy, you might have a lot more prayers tonight than you expected my friend…

Grateful for you and Merry Christmas,

Sheree


The ‘Rona and the Frequency of Fear, Shame and Vaccine Judgement

Posted on
Photo by CDC from Pexels
The ‘Rona

Frequency of Fear

When California shut down over a year ago in March, I believed in my heart that everyone would get the ‘Rona or at least some version of it. Since we had a lot of downtime, I did a lot of research.  I read studies and reports from NCBI, the WHO and the Virology Journal (official publication of National Institutes of Health).  Plus, I listened to doctors who were actually treating ‘Rona patients; doctors who were not living in a frequency of fear from the start.

About three months in, I watched how the virus was affecting the elderly and those who had comorbidities.  Of course, there were healthy people who did not fare well or died, but those percentages were extremely low.  At this point “my” frequency of fear began to decline.

I felt blessed, I didn’t have any underlining issues and I’m not on any prescriptions (other than hormones to keep me from growing a third eye).  Being a pretty healthy 65-year-old I see my naturopath twice a year for a well visit to maintain a healthy immune system and have only seen a doctor when I’ve torn or severed things…  

Knowing all this, both my husband and I decided we were NOT waiting in our house to die, anymore.  We were going to get on with the business of living, void of the ‘Rona fear.  We masked up, sanitized our hands, phones, door handles and steering wheels for months while living in the frequency of fear.  We were now done with the ‘fear’ part.

In June we decided to travel to Arizona for our son’s small backyard ‘covid’ wedding and celebrated with the bridal party and our daughter.  I travelled to Texas to visit with friends in October, and we had Thanksgiving and Christmas with our children and their friends, hugging them all.

I worked in clients’ homes during December and January and enjoyed eating in restaurants while in Arizona.  We sold our home this February, which involved possibly infected strangers “touching” random things throughout the house and up to today, we continue to make trips to Arizona to check on the house build – minus the fear.

For our sanity we had to leave the frequency of fear behind us.

The Shame of ‘Rona

With the decision to regain my life, I could sense the fear from friends and family members with the choices I was making – the visits, trips and working in strangers’ homes.  I quietly respected their opinions and fears and continued with my life, while still reading, researching, and learning about the ‘Rona. 

As more and more people I knew came down with it, I found it interesting that they didn’t really talk about it.  Some even had friends avoid them “after” they had gotten it.  I wondered:

  • Why didn’t people post having the ‘Rona on Facebook and celebrating their recovery?
  • Why was posting your vaccination card (a vaccination which reduces the amount of the disease by 95%) more important than telling everyone you recovered from a disease (which has about a 99.75% recovery rate depending on your health and age).  
  • Why did it appear shameful to have gotten the ‘Rona?

When I talked with friends, the only ‘Rona stories they had, were about those who were hospitalized or died.  Hardly anyone said, “Oh they had it and they’re fine now.”  It’s as if they were forbidden to speak of anything other than the severe cases.

My daughter-in-law, Linda who is a nurse, echoed the same sentiment.  She said no one ever talks about the people who have recovered at home or walked out of the hospital in a few days. 

Were people who got the ‘Rona not following the rules we were told to follow? 

Were they rule breakers? 

Is that why they got it?

Rewind to six weeks ago…

We drove out to Arizona to visit Alex and Linda and to admire the cinderblocks on our build.  The last day of our visit, Alex, who is always masked and sanitized and works from home, started to feel punky.  We thought it was allergies or (hanging out with us) a hang-over.  He got tested the next day and – ta da – positive, he had the ‘Rona. 

A few days later, Jeff, who was now back in Cali, started to feel a bit feverish.  He got tested the next day and – ta da – positive.  He was a little congested with a fever, a bit achy and tired.

I had already flown to Denver the day Alex got his test back. My daughter (who had the ‘Rona a few weeks earlier) wanted me to get tested.  Showing no symptoms, I got tested the next day which came back negative.  I flew back to Phoenix four days later after having no symptoms until I got off the plane.  I was feeling feverish, so I went to get tested, again my test came back negative.  Later that day I was achy and mimicking my son’s symptoms, so Linda said, “You have it, go to bed.”  Two days later we decided I should get tested again and finally – ta da – positive.

There was no blame to go around because we were all masked up, sanitized, and did what they told us. Remember, I believed we’d all be getting it someday.

Alex, on the other hand, could not apologize enough for giving it to us.  I reminded him, again, that it was OUR choice to spend time with him, his wife, and his sister.  We would have lost a year of experiences with them if we had stayed in our condo and it just wasn’t worth it to us.  We could have gotten it from ANYWHERE and ANYONE, but we loved that “he” was kind enough to share his version of it with us.

I was now quarantining in Phoenix and Jeff was in Anaheim with the cat.  My symptoms were a dry cough, a few aches here and there, tired in the afternoon, a mild fever and eventual loss of taste (a great diet tool).  While my symptoms were less than a cold or flu I’ve had, the words that have been repeated over and over and over by MSM and the government for a year echoed in my ears.  

I would end up in the hospital, on a ventilator, and die. Or I would become a super spreader and everyone I came in contact would die.

I started to feel like a leper who should be sent to an island far off the coast to live out the rest of my days away from humanity. But those thoughts lasted about 3.5 seconds because I am, for the most part, a logical person. I am a healthy person, I work out, I take supplements, one of which is Vitamin D, I’m not overweight and have no comorbidities.

After twelve days of doing absolutely nothing but catching up on some Netflix series with Alex, sitting in the sun, and going for walks, I received a negative test and headed back home.

During all this downtime, I questioned a lot of things.  Why aren’t we listening to doctors who want to treat us prophylactically to keep us from going to the hospital? Why were so many of them censored from social media?

“The health system would be less burdened if more patients were treated before they require hospitalization, and there are promising therapeutic options that patients can administer themselves at home.” WSJ – “Too Much Caution is Killing Covid Patients”

Why aren’t we taking more natural approaches to keep ourselves healthy? 

Will this virus finally make us take a serious look at the overall health of the country and world?

So, let’s revisit that Frequency of Fear

It’s all we hear, read, see, breathe, drink and eat.  Removing ourselves from the frequency doesn’t downplay the damage this virus does to some.  But knowing all you can about the virus being a virus might help.  Keeping healthy and changing the frequency of fear to one of hope and faith helps.

I’ve personally seen what the fear of leaving the house has done to two friends who passed away in the last four months; not from Covid, but from the lockdown caused by Covid. 

There are many ‘fearful’ things in our lives:  driving, flying and sadly, for me – riding a bike.  If you think about it, those fearful things are choices, just like our choice to resume our lives with the possibility of getting the ‘Rona.

I do admit, a month before the ‘Rona hit, our immune systems were probably compromised by the stress of staging, selling, packing, moving to storage and the apartment – all in four weeks.  Self-care wasn’t a top priority at that time.

Vaccine Judgement 

I’m going to be completely honest with you, I never planned on getting the vaccine. I can see the head nods and eye rolls happening right now and I’ll be expecting a knock on the door from the CDC, WHO or Vax police any minute. Having natural immunity from the ‘Rona now, works for me.

I also wanted to “slow the roll” on things. In the beginning of ‘Rona, doctors didn’t really know how to treat it.  They treated the “Rona like other similar types of viruses.  But later, they stepped back and did a “rethink” on their rush to ventilate patients.  Reuters – “Special Report:  As virus advanced, doctors rethink rush to ventilate.”

I know many who have serious underlying conditions – cancer, type 1 and 2 diabetes, lung issues and those who are overweight and have heart conditions.  They are choosing to get vaccinated to protect their health – I get it.  But please don’t judge those of us who decide not to get the shot because we may have had the ‘Rona.  Some people have personal reasons, some cannot be vaccinated and some people may be waiting until 2023 when the human trials of the vaccine are finished

If you’re vaccinated, you’re good, right?

I am not an anti-vaxer.  Under the suggestion from my Naturopath and the CDC, who says 1 in 3 “old” people will get the Shingles, I got the shots.  I then proceeded to be really, really sick after both of them.  So, see, I do get vaccines. 

I had my children vaccinated with the required Tdap, MMR shots and also intentionally infected them with chicken pox when they were small by having lunch with friends who had it.  Bad parents, perhaps?  There were no HPV shots, flu shots or pneumonia shots for them – that is what their immune systems are for.  

On April 18, 2021 a volcano erupted on the island of St. Vincent.

“Gonsalves said only vaccinated residents who have been checked and identified by Dr. Simone Keizer-Beache, the St. Vincent and the Grenadines chief medical officer, will be allowed to board the ships out of an abundance of caution.”

So, there’s over a 90% recovery rate from a virus vs. 100% chance of death by hot flowing magma By not choosing to get a vaccine we are now subjected to death by lava, sounds reasonable.

Vaccination Talking Points

‘Rona and Costs Associated with It

I’ve read A LOT of the talking points about getting the vaccine and one point stated that unvaccinated people should be responsible for the extreme cost of hospitalization due to the ‘Rona.  If we start going after those who choose not to be vaccinated because of this reasoning, will the next group we go after be the obese?

Obesity can result in a combination of causes and individual factors:  behavior and genetics.( Adult Obesity Causes & Consequences | Overweight & Obesity | CDC )

Obesity can manifest into diabetes 2, high blood pressure, stroke, osteoarthritis, cancer and a high chance of death from Covid.  Poorer mental health outcomes and a reduced quality of life make obesity an incredibly serious health issue.  (Obesity – Symptoms and causes – Mayo Clinic)

Here are some medical costs related to the obesity issue from a 2016 report by the Milken Institute:

  • In 2016, chronic diseases driven by the risk factor of obesity and overweight accounted for $480.7 billion in direct health care costs in the U.S., with an additional $1.24 trillion in indirect costs due to lost economic productivity.
  • The total cost of chronic diseases due to American obesity and overweight was $1.72 trillion—equivalent to 9.3 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP).
  • Obesity as a risk factor is by far the greatest contributor to the burden of chronic diseases in the U.S., accounting for 47.1 percent of the total cost of chronic diseases nationwide.

Instead of addressing this issue head on, which is now considered rude, we glamorize it.  Cosmopolitan in their January 2021 issue included an article “This is Healthy – 11 women on why wellness doesn’t have to be one-size-fits-all.”

Images credited to Cosmopolitan
Image credited to Cosmopolitan

The CDC is quoted in this article from Beckers Hospital Review that “among 71,491 US adults who were hospitalized with Covid-19, 27.8% were overweight and 50.2% were obese.”  

Seventy-eight percent …

Just last week the WHO published an article stating: “In 2019, an estimated 1.5 million deaths were directly caused by diabetes. Another 2.2 million deaths were attributable to high blood glucose in 2012.”

Should this be considered a type of pandemic?  

I am genuinely concerned for the health of people, including the obese and overweight, but bottom line, I have no right to tell them how to live their lives.  So, comparing the statement that non-vaccinated covid positive people should be responsible for hospital costs seems ludicrous when comparing the illnesses and financial burden caused by obesity.

Vaccines for the ‘Rona are just like Measles and Smallpox

Another talking point among people is comparing getting vaccines for the ‘Rona to that of smallpox and measles.  It took me a while to find something in which I could compare them equally.  That something was the:

Case Fatality Rate (CFR) “The proportion of people who die from a specified disease among all individuals diagnosed with the disease over a certain period of time”.

Case fatality rate of Covid

0.003% (Age 0-19)

0.02% (Age 20-49)

0.5% (Age 50-69)

5.4% (Age 70+)

Case fatality rate of Smallpox

Variola minor virus < 1%.

Variola major virus ~ 30%

Case fatality rate of Measles

15% – 25%

Please take a moment to re-read these percentages. I don’t see how these vaccines can be compared to each other.

Vaccine Passports (my personal feelings…)

This might be the hill I die on because if this door opens where will it stop?

The state and federal governments know pretty much everything about us: driving patterns (GPS), communication (phone text and audio – not to mention Siri listening and answering questions I never asked her). Entertainment habits (Cable, Apple TV, Netflix, Hulu, Kindle), dining and travel (charges on our credit cards, which banks have willingly handed over to the government), items we own like our house and car (because we pay taxes and registration fees to the government). They also know what type of cat litter we use, if we purchase from Amazon.

And although I believe they already have access to our medical records, I hoped it would be the last place of privacy for people.

With the suggestion of the passport we should be getting our papers ready so we can verify up-to-date measles and tuberculosis shots because 207K people were killed in 2019 from the measles and 1.4 million people died from TB in 2019 worldwide.

They’re gonna want to know if you currently have a herpes breakout and the status of your HIV/Aids, because these can be transmitted to other humans.

Women should be prepared to report when they are ovulating just in case we need to start controlling the population.

If you have heart issues, lung or breathing problems your passport will inform them that strenuous workouts are not recommended.

For the safety of all, before you drive your car or leave a restaurant, a breathalyzer will be conveniently located to check your blood alcohol levels – an Uber will automatically be called for you. I’m sure they’re working on a quick test for THC in the blood, to also keep the public safe.

Your passport will contain everything, conveniently in one place to allow easy access for everyone. What could go wrong?

Guess my days of travel and entertainment are gone forever…

Summary

Ok, so we’ve all been dealing with the Frequency of Fear for more than a year.  We’ve possibly felt Shame or passively Shamed someone for having the ‘Rona (like “I told you so”) and now we’re all frenzied up on Vaccinations.

Ultimately, I have no say on how you live your lives, what you put in your mouth, or inject into your body.  Those decisions are yours and I respect that. If you are unhealthy, have an illness or are fearful, you should protect yourself. If I die because of my decisions, again they are my decisions. I will take reasonable care not to give ANY illness to anyone. I, as a rational human when sick, will stay home as I would and should, with a cold or flu or Ebola.

My hope is that decisions we make, start containing more common sense, like stay home if you are SICK – we all did that back in the day?  Work will carry on without you if you are SICK.  Keeping our children home when they are SICK. Perhaps businesses have actually learned from the ‘Rona and will be more generous with sick time for employees.

If you speak about having the ‘Rona or those who have survived, it is not disrespectful to those who did not survive. We are all devastated, as we should be, with any illness that takes a life too soon.  We don’t need to add ‘survivors’ guilt’ to the list of things we’re all dealing with. 

With all the sadness, loss and mental stress we’ve experienced this year, let’s NOT live in fear created by others. Let’s NOT shame or judge our family, friends and neighbors.  And let’s pray that the overall well-being of this nation improves after so many health issues have come to light during the ‘Rona.

Grateful for you and my antibodies,   

Sheree


The Condo

Posted on

This week we closed on the sale of our condo. It was time to sell in anticipation of our retirement home being finished at the end of this year.  In the afternoon of our final day, I walked up the stairs for the last time. In stocking feet, as to not leave footprints after all the cleaning, I left our keys, gate controllers and garage door openers.  I looked around at the completely empty rooms and a flood of memories poured in.  We knew this was never going to be our “forever” home, but the memories made in our eight-year “temporary” home will never be forgotten.

Only memories filled it now…

We had some family and friends visit throughout those years. I remembered the excitement I felt and the laughter we all shared. There was the blowup bed incident and random “fake” snowball fights at Christmas. I’ll never forget cocktails while gazing at the views. 

One of our greatest joys was sharing the view of the Disneyland fireworks from our balcony at night.

I remembered the heartbreak both of our children went through while we lived there. But now I smiled at the love they each have in their lives.  We experienced the joy of our daughter starting her own business and our son getting married in the time of Covid. Finding our retirement site after two years was definitely one of the big highlights.  But there were also a few lows: the death of good friends, a torn hamstring (frisbee), a replacement ACL (bicycle) and some intense skin cancer removals.

Four years ago we left the condo, thinking it might be the last time we did. It was during the wildfire evacuation and at the time we said goodbye to everything we could not carry. I quickly learned that our joy is in us, not in the things that surround us.

Our beloved Golden passed away while we were there. Afterwards our daughter’s cat came to visit and never left.

I smiled how the ‘rona brought the neighbors out of their homes to meet on the driveway for our “Covid Cantina.” This has been going on every weekend for nearly a year. 

Their stories, birthdays, weddings and births made a group of strangers into a family.

Standing there in the void made me review a few of the lessons I had been taught during our eight-year stay. We were so far away from family and friends. I learned that my desire to have them come and visit caused me to live a life of “wanting” not a life of “having.” The “wanting” made me into a person I wasn’t very happy with; one I had to change. Changing also taught me what type of relationships I need and want in my life.

I thought back to the beginning of 2020 and how we were so excited to leave the condo, December of that year. We were to begin our “retirement.”  But Covid had other plans…  I was once again given a lesson – that of tempered excitement. I now plan on putting only a few eggs in my “excitement” basket. The rest will be reserved, just in case a meteorite visits the earth in the next ten months.

The condo we left was not only made of wood and nails, drywall and stucco, it was also made of laughter and tears, hugs and love, plus lots and lots of alcohol! 

Dear condo,

I will forever be grateful for the views, the experiences, and the people you brought into our lives.  Thank you for your lessons…

Goodbye to the House

Grateful for you from our 840 sq ft “temporary” apartment home,

Sheree


Censored

Posted on

Dear Liberal friends, Maybe you never knew you censored me or made me feel this way. Maybe I should have been strong enough to tell you and risk the consequences. That part is on me. But perhaps now is a good time to share with you how I have felt for the past 12 years. 

Censored…

You might want to get a beverage and settle in, this has been inside for a long time…

As a conservative with some libertarian beliefs, my opinions seemed irrelevant and quite often censored.  I didn’t vote for President Obama in 2008, but I hoped that many of the things he spoke about would come to fruition.  But years went by and the hopes I had after hearing those uplifting speeches really fell flat for me.

It appeared the division between the races seemed to be growing as if nothing occurred in the 60’s to bring about equality.  There was more and more government and less things being fixed.   I wasn’t the only one who felt this way; many others were also disenchanted, and so…

2009 the Tea Party Movement was born.

I feared that we were creating a society dependent on the government and raising generation after generation of youth who were not being taught our history or the world’s history; the bad and the good. Generations who took freedom, safety, and choice for granted and who had no idea where Iran, Iraq or even Israel were located. I felt like most Americans were not being listened to; only a handful who had louder voices, more money and supported by special interest groups. These were the people who determined our future; people who appeared to hate what America stood for. 

I started to take more interest in politics than in the past, but found I couldn’t outwardly disagree with President Obama’s policies because I, like others, would have been considered racist.  I objected with the man’s policies, not his color – his policies. 

Recently, President Obama stated in his book A Promised Land, “It was as if my very presence in the White House had triggered a deep-seated panic, a sense that the natural order had been disrupted.”  Mr. President, that thought honestly never ever crossed my mind, nor anyone else I knew.  I believe people are chosen for the Presidency by the platform they present, not their color.  It’s what they can do for the people, the nation, the world that should be important.

As the divide grew in the country, it became apparent to me that it wasn’t just the Presidency.  It was the government wanting and needing more control.  The government, whose apparent lack of listening, was causing the unrest and discontent. 

I thought,

“Should people be in office this long?”

Examples: Patrick Leahy in office for 46 years and Chuck Grassley in office for 40 years     

I realized I was tired of politicians promising the American people help, via handouts, not jobs.  Why was I expected to follow laws that were not followed by those in government or who had the cash to get away with it. 

I loved that America was the place refugees searched out. It was becoming apparent, though, that immigration laws only meant something to the politicians during election years.  They either ignored them or enforced them at a whim. I was tired of the two parties caring more about themselves than of ‘we the people’. 

As the years passed the feelings and sense that things were not right started to slowly slip out in conversations.  It wasn’t much, as I would be put in my place, censored. But as those small bits of unhappiness came out, I noticed a distance between some family members and friends, because I no longer believed what they believed. We couldn’t have a conversation on our differences, because I was always wrong. Disagreeing with President Obama was not an option.

All the discontent I felt was obviously shared by many more than just me. 

Proof?

‘He who shall not be named’ was voted President in 2016. Anyone who supported this non-politician instantly became a racist, homophobic, xenophobic, bigot, sexist, entitled and a Nazi.  

Had my liberal friends viewed me like this before 2016?  Had I called them names for the previous eight years?  I tried to think back, and you know, I couldn’t come up with anything.  Nada…

After eight years it was still impossible to discuss politics with friends or family, who were liberal-leaning.  I was an idiot for voting for him and they were correct in their beliefs about him. Their reasons to hate this person were valid and I was wrong for not blindly believing everything they believed. Any accomplishments he made were dismissed, as they could not get through their distain for him.

And now that I voted for “hwsnbn”…

I was a zombie kept alive only by believing in everything he did and said and I had no mind or will of my own.  I stopped thinking logically and never questioned anything because I had become one of “those” people.

Fast forward, its now been 12 years of not being able to speak about or discuss any of these issues. The examples you set, and your reasoning has finally sunk in.  Here is what I have learned from you:

  • Everyone who does not support what I believe, should keep quiet; I am always right. 
  • Because you are different than me by way of color, sex, religion or political party, your differences will only be deemed acceptable if it benefits me or my causes.
  • I should continually post what a bad president the current president is if I did not vote for him or her.
  • I should listen blindly to whatever mainstream media tells me (Fox too) and forget about researching things myself.
  • I should only listen to political pundits you tell me to even if I want to widen my knowledge base to all points of views.
  • I will cancel everyone or everything that doesn’t align with my beliefs.  I could just not listen to them or not purchase from them if they do not think as I do, but ignoring them won’t do. I must destroy them as they do not adhere to my beliefs.
  • When anyone adds a rebuttal to a story I’ve posted I should ignore it. It will be wrong and I don’t have time to research the facts so my post must be accurate.
  • I should avoid any discussion with anyone who thinks differently than me because that could cause something called, compromise.
  • I should blindly stay home, order everything from Amazon, Uber eats, watch Netflix or whatever programming that I am told to watch per the MSM, government and social media.  By doing this I will be taken care of and will be safe.
  • I should post solid colors on my social media supporting whatever is currently in play, #metoo, #blacklivesmatter, #humanrights, #socialjustice, instead of listening to both sides on the subject in question to get ALL the facts.  Either way, my side will always be right.
  • I should support only peaceful protests in which businesses are burned down, Federal buildings are attacked, and people die and call any other peaceful protests I don’t believe in, ‘insurrections’ in which Federal buildings are attacked and people die.
  • I should not read the policies or platforms that candidates run on.  Rather I should only vote for them because I am registered to that party, and I will hate the other person running against them.
  • I should go willingly to re-education camps so we can all think alike – things are easier when we all think alike.  On social media we can all post puppy pictures or what we’ve eaten for dinner.  I will post absolutely nothing questioning why government officials do what they do.  By doing all this I will not be deleted from social media.  The social media where I live for the “likes.” Take a look at the Black Mirror episode Nosedive, Season 3, Episode 1, to see the direction the “likes” are taking us.
  • I should ignore the Constitution and the Amendments and the lives that were taken or ruined by wars defending them. After all America was only an experiment and it failed.
  • I should assume that no one on the conservative side cares about the environment, job creation, human rights, police reform, immigration or the homeless.
  • I should be happy that Amazon, the day of the inauguration, offered to distribute the C19 vaccine.  Hatred for a leader outweighs helping those in need.  Especially if we really, really hate that person.

But guess what?  I am going to try and do NONE of the above. I am not going to censor you…

  • I will listen with respect to your opinions if I am given the same. I will support the person I did not vote for. When he /she “lies” as they will, as they all do, I will not post on social media “I told you so” or that all their followers are evil insurrectionists and that he or she is the devil incarnate. I will live, like you, with the consequences of the actions they and the government take until I can voice my opinion by voting them out.
  • I will pray that there will be integrity in upcoming elections – in person with an id – like our constitutional republic has done successfully for years.  In the meantime, I will do what I can at a grassroot level to bring trust back to the election process.    
  • I will not put you on a ‘list’ and assume you are like ‘those’ who have destroyed multiple cities throughout the summer of 2020 and who looted and burned down small businesses and ruined lives and killed so many. There are good and bad people in businesses, government and even our neighborhoods.  I pray that the good ones will rise to the top.
  • With that said, I will not generalize everyone and everything.  I will think of you as an individual not just part of a group.
  • I will not automatically believe you are wrong, and I am right and will give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you are an intelligent human who can logically think through a problem. All sides of the problem and the long-term implications of the solution to that problem.
  • I will not make you afraid to put up a sign supporting your candidate or criticize your clothing.  I will not key your car if you have an American flag sticker on it or a bumper sticker I don’t agree with.
  • When we speak, I will calmly state why I support certain things. If I don’t have an answer to your questions, I will get back to you with facts. and will not raise my voice in an emotional response.
  • I will not believe the opinions on the MSM and will look for the facts myself.
  • I will not ask 72% of the people in the United States to apologize for their whiteness as I would not ask 18% of the Hispanics/Latino population who live here to denounce their color or the 13% of the Black population who live here to ignore their color.  The 5.7% Asian, 1.1% American Indian/Alaska Native, .2% Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islanders, 5% some other race and 3.4% two or more races will also not be asked to denounce their skin color.
  • The reason I won’t ask this of the 328+ million people living in America is because I don’t care what color you are.  We are all 100% American.  I respect (and sometimes envy) your traditions, your culture, your religion, and your heritage, but if you live here legally, you are an American (with all the good and bad shit).  And if you are here illegally, then let’s work on that.
Side note:  For those who count up percentages, like I do, the Hispanic/Latino percentage on this U.S. Census link was not included in the breakdown of the American population number of 328,239,523 and counting.
  • I will not be jealous if you are a different color than me and make a gazillion dollars.  I will say, good job, wish I had your skills.  You must have worked very hard to get that position and make all that cash.
  • I will not judge someone by their color, sex or pronoun preference but by their character, their integrity, and their work ethic. There will be no quota on who can and cannot be in my life, I’ll take all of you crazies.
  • I will never publicly shame you for your beliefs, i.e., social media, at a restaurant, or while shopping in a store, instead I will talk to you, text or email you my feelings as we are not in middle school and no one needs more drama in their lives.
  • If you try to change my mind on a subject with your opinions, I will respect them more when they are backed up by facts and references.
  • I will not censor or cancel your thoughts, opinions or rantings even if I don’t agree with them.  This is a country of freedoms and one of them is speech.  If you are inciting anything crazy, I will speak to you as an adult, to find out the reasoning behind it.
  • I will never complain that you are quoting a “white” person.  Because if you’re quoting “any” person you must have a valid reason. It’s not my place to say who you can or cannot quote.
  • I will continually work to THINK before I speak:

Is it…

          True

          Helpful

          Inspiring

          Necessary

          Kind

  • I will never stop asking questions, of anyone, about anything and everything, even if you cancel me. This is because I am a free human being which I am incredibly grateful for.
  • I am a work in progress so my views can change from experiences I’ve had.  With that said, I will not bring up something you wrote in my yearbook 48 years ago.

Here are some great quote for all those of you who haven’t already blocked, unfriended or cancelled me. 

“My definition of a free society is a society where it is safe to be unpopular.” – Adlai Stevenson

“Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game. Free speech is life itself.” – Salman Rushdie

“Censorship reflects society’s lack of confidence in itself. It is a hallmark of an authoritarian regime.” – Potter Stewart

“They came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for me, and by that time no one was left to speak up.” – Pastor Martin Niemöller

Thanks for letting me dump 12 years of pent-up frustrations on you.

Grateful for you,

Sheree

p.s. I just listened to a Podcast on Unity by Kira Davis. You should definitely visit her site, but her main point was perhaps we should NOT Unite. Rather we should learn, once again, how to tolerate each other and respect that we all have different opinions. Her thoughts came at the perfect time!