I Didn't Sign Up for This Sh*t

I left for basic training just three months after my high school graduation. Eighteen years old and excited to continue what seemed like a family tradition of service to my country.

My father and mother met at Walter Reed Medical Center while in nursing school in 1962. They married and my mom had to leave service when she became pregnant. (Because, you know, lack of women’s rights and all that back then.) My dad went on to serve two tours in Vietnam before being medically evacuated. He passed a few years later at the age of 32 when I was six months old. My brothers had also gone on to serve this country.

So, hopping on a bus and heading to Fort Jackson was something I not only looked forward to, but found tremendous pride in.

I’m not proud these days.

And before you die-hard nationalists start to say anything about leaving if I don’t like it, let me just say… shut up.

I don’t know about you, but I was raised that you don’t give up on something you love just because it’s not the way you want it to be. You work at it. You fix it. Whether it’s your marriage, your family, your congregation, or your country, you don’t abandon the things most important to you.

This country is important to me. And I do love it… or rather, I love most of the people in it and what we have the potential to create as our country.

Having said that, what’s happening right now isn’t what I signed up for. I didn’t serve this country for authoritarianism and dictatorship. My father didn’t sacrifice his life to watch children snatched from their parents, schools invaded by masked men carrying weapons, or innocent people terrorized in their communities.

Watching the President of the United States violate the law to weaponize the National Guard against a civilian population for exercising their First Amendment rights makes me angry… and sad. But mostly, angry.

I have an advocate’s heart. Always have. Serving and protecting others is in my DNA and to see the misuse and abuse of the very things meant to protect us stirs the most visceral response inside me.

I believe that’s what is happening in Los Angeles…

Dallas… Austin… Louisville, KY… Brookhaven, GA… Omaha, NE… Las Vegas… and more.

The people are pouring into the streets because they see people being terrorized. They hear the cries of children and the fear of parents.

It’s not un-American. In fact, it’s the most American thing anyone could be doing.

We stand up to tyranny. We resist kings, authoritarians, and dictators.

Most of us just never thought that would include our own government and president.

And if I hear “They’re illegals” one more time, I might scream.

They are HUMAN BEINGS.

Having committed a crime that is the equivalent of a damn speeding ticket does not make you less of a human being. It doesn’t you less deserving of respect. And for those who need to hear it, being an American doesn’t make you more valuable or worthy than anyone else.

The superiority complex that many Americans have is disgusting. If you’re a Christian with this attitude, please show me where Jesus laid out a hierarchy when he said “Love thy neighbor as thyself”.

He didn't.

Folks, the question isn’t what is Congress going to do; nor is it what’s Trump going to do next.

The real question is what are WE going to do.