Diana.nu

I don’t have much to say right now, but what I do have to say is big!

Today, March 8, is International Women’s Day!

As such, I’d like to thank the woman who has had the most influence on my life. Her name is mom. (Actually, Gladis.)

I have been a needy little thing all my life. Until about 12 years old, I was constantly sick. Now, I need a lot of support (both financial and emotional). Either way, my mother has never been angry at me for it. She has never made me feel like I was the one to blame. In addition to that, whenever I needed something she couldn’t give me, she would confront whoever could. Without going into too many details, the last feud was with her insurance provider over my depression medication.

I remember when my sister was in junior high, they tried to change my mother’s work schedule. She wouldn’t have been able to pick my sister up after school. My mother fought and fought until they agreed to keep her schedule the way it was. She lost some friends in her work place because of it, since they thought she thought she was special or something. She didn’t think that. She has also fought for others in her work place when they were being pushed around.

What’s amazing is that my mother never asked for any of it. Again, without going into too many details, she was pushed into marriage by my grandmother. While her parents were willfully ignorant and tried to keep her ignorant in terms of sex education, my mother has always talked to me about anything I needed to know. She always emphasizes that if I ever find myself in trouble, like, with a venereal disease or accidentally pregnant, she’ll rip my head off, but then she’ll do everything she can to help me through the situation. I’ve promised her that if anything horrible like that ever happens, I’ll let her know.

She also says that if I am, or anyone I know is, ever sexually assaulted, no matter what, it is not our fault, and before we do anything, we need to report it so that the rapist can be persecuted and so that no one else needs to go through that because of him. This is probably common sense stuff, but it is respectfully radical compared to what her parents told her.

My mother is a beautiful woman who cares about herself and her children. She is aware of bullshit and rejects it. I love her.

When I was in grade school, people made fun of my frizzy hair. I didn’t care that I had frizzy hair. I wasn’t even aware that there was something significant about my hair. But apparently there was, and I got made fun of, and I started caring.

Sometimes I get made fun of now for my opinions. It’s a different kind of upsetting, but it reminds me of grade school. It’s like the further away you are from neutral on anything, the more likely it is you’ll end up a joke. Take a step in any direction, even an unimportant direction, and someone will find you weird and therefore, hilarious.

Now that I think about it, it’s kind of sad for the people who make fun of others. If you’re close enough to neutral to feel safe making fun of others, you are probably boring. Boring. God. How do these people live with themselves?

Then there’s the whole issue of bringing up something no one cares about. Imagine if someone next to you brought up that some kid’s shoes were ugly. The kid doesn’t care. Why the hell does the person next to you care? Tell them to find something else to worry about. There are problems all over the world. Tell them to pick a random place and start worrying about whatever is going on there. Or tell them to worry about themselves. They’re probably boring. Tell them to work on their personality. Most of all, regarding the kid’s shoes, tell them to get over it already.