TD's school responded to this tide of anger and emotion by allowing the pupils a day of silent protest yesterday, and by allowing the school community to protest on Main Road outside the school today. Yesterday TD penned large black Xs on both hands to show people that she had chosen not to speak; the silence was to represent the many voices of victims who have been silenced by force. Today Andrew and I joined in the public protests - he before school and I during lunch hour. Today was anything but silent. The air was filled with slogans like "Enough is enough" , "No means no". Cars hooted in affirmation of the protest. The teenagers made sure that they were both seen and heard. It was empowering to be part of the group, and quite healing to hear the anger and determination of the upcoming generation. Perhaps, at last, this group of young adults will be the power of change we all need.
Today also happened to be the day that TD was scheduled to speak in front of her grade in the final round of a public speaking competition. She had chosen to speak about Athos - the Greek monastic island which prohibits all female beings (except cats, insects and birds) from stepping on this sacred ground. It is well worth a quick Wikki read if you are interested in this bizarre sense of entitlement and superiority of men that is entrenched and policed. How apt that she was dressed in black whilst delivering this speech. And she used the opportunity to reinforce the need for gender attitude changes that are so long overdue. She may have been preaching to the converted but sexism is so entrenched in society that even the highest level of government thoughtlessly told women to stop letting men abuse them, instead of admitting that that abuse by men is the real problem.
TD is a warrior. Discrimination, language use, respectful pronouns, are some of the issues she champions. I admire her for this. It gives me hope that things don't have to stay the same. She champions the T1 cause too, answering questions on her Instagram account from people who just want to know more about how she feels about living with diabetes, or how she got sick, or her everyday routines for keeping alive. In between all this she has had a horrible few glucose weeks - the graph of glucose numbers looks like a theme park hell-ride. She had to be put on a drip a couple of weeks ago, she has had to have a three day restricted diet to try to figure out what is going on. It has been scary and exhausting and draining. And yet, she stands up and fights for a better world.
Perhaps the time for silence is over. We need new voices to fight for humanity - loudly, passionately, coherently, persistently. Silence is passive. Let's actively seek to fight to stop male on female violence. No means No. Enough is Enough. Leave our daughters alone.
** From my blog in April 2018 "Elgar's music - particularly his cello concerto (in E minor, opus 85) speaks to me in a deeply profound way. The tempo and mood resonate with something in the tension I feel, and externalizes it for me. And once it is out, it can dissipate and leave me calmer."
