I’m reading over my Hello, October post and I can’t help but notice that a month ago, I was torn about whether or not it was appropriate to write a post about my life and my successes/challenges so shortly after a mass shooting that was so devastating in our country.
Perhaps not surprisingly, perhaps not ironically, I have those same feelings today. And I am heartbroken and I am wondering how I’m supposed to think about anything else. I’m wondering how I’m supposed to feel safe at concerts, at festivals, in the grocery store.
Because I don’t.
Today and every day I am heartbroken for America, as I will be until we create laws that will make it a safer place for us to live. Or at the very least, enforce the ones we already have. Until then, I’ll keep telling people to call their representatives, to get out and vote tomorrow. Change is how you honor the dead.
And please, stop screaming at each other online. Be compassionate. I understand your anger, I feel it too. But yelling at people who have a different opinion than you do makes things worse, not better. Stop beating each other down. When did it become impossible to have a conversation about politics that didn’t end in us damning each other to hell at the end?
I want to write about how I felt like October went, I want to write about how great Nanowrimo has been for me so far and how it’s motivated me to write my novel again. I want to talk about how I’m going to finish this thing, how it’s an important story, how I finally feel like I can tell it again.
Instead, I think I’ll leave off here. Keep living, keep fighting, keep speaking up and speaking out. Keep teaching your children to be good people. We can make this better.
I hope your November is amazing. Thanks for stopping by.
Mary E. Nolte 