Be Careful What You Say

December 30, 2007

Re*pres*son: 1. a repressing or being repressed. 2. Psychiatry a) the mechanism by which ideas, impulses, etc. are repressed b) something repressed in this way

Have you ever personally felt as if you shouldn’t say what’s on your mind because you just knew that the person wouldn’t approve of the boldness of whatever it is that you wanted to say? Have you ever held back on speaking your mind just because you knew that it wasn’t “acceptable” to utter such “nonsense”?

I have.

There have been many times when I held back on saying something that I felt or thought because I already knew the opinions of people who I am with. In doing so, I repressed myself. I gave in to the “socially acceptable” thing to do and kept quiet.

I regret that, and I resent that I allowed myself to reframe from stating my opinion and the reasons behind it. I resent that my opinion and beliefs would not have been “acceptable”.

I bet you’re wondering what the hell I’m talking about eh? Well, I’m talking about a lot of things and nothing all at the same time. I’m talking about my feelings and beliefs towards homosexuals, aboriginals, developmentally handicapped people and every other single person out there. I am talking about my friends, my family, and total and complete strangers that have unknowingly repressed me by refusing to hear what I’ve had to say about those things.

Fact of the matter is that I do both agree and support homosexuals. I fully plan on taking part of the Gay Pride parade next year. I believe that love is love, and people should always do whatever makes them happy. Gay doesn’t hurt anybody, so why are there still people out there who completely disagree with it and resent the fact that it simply is?

And regarding the aboriginal peoples in our community: I don’t see any difference between them and everybody else, so I don’t see why there has to be a solid line dividing us. Everybody and anybody can have issues that they need help with, and it doesn’t ever hurt to try and help a community. We are all the same race: humans. I think that if everybody looked at it that way instead of dividing things up into something as trivial as colour, then we wouldn’t have as many issues as we do now. People of manority only seem to have “so many issues” because they feel repressed, and personally I don’t blame anybody for feeling repressed because we all are.

I believe that people with developmental disabilities deserve the same opportunities as everybody else. I think our communities need to work towards ensuring that they are given the same opportunities instead of only some of the same opportuntities. I also think that schools need to start enforcing and teaching more about empathy at a younger age, so that kids don’t grow up thinking that people with developmental disabilities are beneath them because they aren’t as intellectually developed.

I know what I believe in, and I know that it is hard for some people to agree with me because of the way they were brought up. I know several people whom I love and care deeply about that were brought up to believe that God intended for men and women to be together in order to reproduce, therefore homosexuality is wrong. I know many people blinded by other peoples prejudices and therefore think that all aboriginal communities are doomed because they don’t want help. Ok, so I can agree with the fact that anybody who doesn’t want to help themselves is doomed to continue on a destructive path because you can’t help someone who doesn’t want help, but aboriginal peoples are not the only people who are like this, so they need to stop being addressed this way and you need to stop thinking this way.

Times have changed folks. Centuries ago, I probably would have been institutionalized because I have a medical disability and it was common to ship away “special needs” children to institutions.

4 Responses to “Be Careful What You Say”

1. Says:
   December 30th, 2007 at 7:17 pm

   < ![CDATA[I agree with you completely on all fronts. You should never feel ashamed about speaking up with your opinion, especially when anyone tries to say that one person is less than another person because of their race, orientation, or otherwise.]]>

2. Says:
   December 30th, 2007 at 10:44 pm

   < ![CDATA[I agree completely!
   ]]>

3. Says:
   December 31st, 2007 at 2:08 pm

   < ![CDATA[You're still young. You have lots of years left to become a cranky bitch who can't shut up :)

   And ya know, I never thought of what you said in your last paragraph but you're right. Thank god times have changed and people are more enlightened regarding that.

   But say what you gotta say and say it straight to their faces. The people who love you will accept criticism and debate and still like and accept you...the people who can't, well, I don't know if I'd want to be around someone who had so little sense of self that they couldn't see that there are negative characteristics to their personality.

   I don't believe in talking about people behind their back. I let them know how I feel first and THEN I talk about them at will...seems only fair.]]>

4. Says:
   December 31st, 2007 at 2:37 pm

   < ![CDATA[Avitable; that’s very true, which is why when you keep your month closed..you’re just repressing yourself.

   Erin; I’m glad you agree completely
   Miss Ann; you have a lot of very fair points haha I suppose I really don’t want to be around people who can’t accept what I have to say. And it is only fair to tell them how you feel first before talking about them, then they can’t be mad! ahah! :D]]>