This isn't just about Ferguson but it's certainly what triggered me to write this here blog. I'm tired of watching TV, listening to the radio, catching a bus, seeing a movie, walking through a mall, reading a paper, and going online and having to dodge all these things and people telling me what to do.
"Donate to this!" or "Buy that!" or "You need this!"
Like, no, I don't need to do anything. I don't need to write angry letters to believe in something. I don't need to have all the CDs to be a fan. I don't need to protest to have a belief in something. I don't need to donate to a cause to believe in it.
You can believe in and support things in whatever way makes you most comfortable. For example, I don't donate to many humanitarian causes but that doesn't mean I want people to die. I just think that the population is way out of hand and that if we did cure cancer tomorrow and all these other horrible things that take lives every day, that we would have a bigger issue in regards to overpopulation. I do donate to get more involved in other issues such as human trafficking, domestic violence and refugee organisations because these people aren't necessarily dying, but their lives are being made unnecessarily hard and unfair. Which is something I strongly wish didn't have to be.
And then on the other side of things, with something that takes top priority in my daily decisions and general beliefs, I make a point not to eat/purchase anything with poultry/game/anything feathered in it because I feel uncomfortable not supporting this belief of mine that feathered beings are fucking wonderful and shouldn't be made into pies.
Seriously. My sister bought a feather pillow the other day and I was fuming because the feather industry is sickening.
My point is that, you get to choose your battles. Ferguson isn't mine. It never was and might never be. Does that make me racist? No. Does that make me a sick human being? No.
We can't care about everything to a great degree. I mean sure, the protests come on the news over here and I'll have a talk with my dad about how shit it is in America that there are no gun laws and about how it sucks that racism is even a thing. I have an opinion when asked, but it's not very factual. And if someone wanted to stand there and give me the facts then I'd listen, because I'm genuinely interested in the world, but if I wanted to know these things - I'd look them up myself.
But I simply don't wish to know. I care, but this doesn't interest me. There are so many other things that are higher on my list of "things Rachael gives a huge shit about" and I simply can't focus on all of them at once.
Things Rachael gives a huge shit about:
- getting more rights for my feathered friends (destroying the chicken cage farm/factory farm, destroying the feather industry, educating people in regards to the egg/feather/poultry/turkey meat industry and the cruelty that lies within)
- human trafficking
- depression and recognition
- domestic violence/violence against women/violence against minors
- feminism (as in women = men, not empowering women at the expense of men)
- racism - in Australia this means fighting for rights for refugees coming to our country, fighting against the illegal camps they are sent to where children are forced to live in horrid conditions behind barbed wire fences, and also this whole thing where many people, including our own Prime Minister, refuse to acknowledge the first settlers of Australia (who were not British, shock horror Abbott).
- demonstrating general tolerance of people of all genders/races/sexualities/people on all walks of life
To be told that I have to care about Ferguson is just... no. No, I don't have to care about anything. I choose to care about many things. And I do care about Ferguson, to a certain extent, but I don't believe that anyone knows all the facts of the situation. It's not something that's particularly close to my heart because I'm not American. I'm a white Australian woman. There are many issues within the bigger picture that I have a strong opinion on such as racism and gun control and the whole "shoot first ask questions later" vibe but the topic itself, as in the individuals involved, aren't high on my list. No one should have died, but that's as far as I get on the subject as a whole.
But people die every day. Groups of people are discriminated against every day. I do my part to fight for some of these groups but I can't fight every fight, and some are simply more important to me as an individual.
Also, though this does not specifically apply to me per se, some people are already dealing with so many things in their personal lives that they simply can't fit this in right now. And that's fine. Maybe they're fighting depression. Maybe their dog died. Maybe they're trying to find personal confidence. Maybe they're finding themselves. Maybe they don't quite know what they believe in yet, and what they want to fight for in life. I think that's fine.
As long as everyone follows their own hearts' call and fights their own fights then every fight is being had. And as long as we can all have conversations about these things, and not simply tell one another that we are wrong all the time or ignorant for our personal beliefs, then maybe we'll get somewhere with it. It's fine to give your opinion. It's fine to give someone the facts. But be mindful that someone has made their decision and may not wish to change it, and you are no one to think you have the right to tell someone what they can and can't believe in. This applies to both sides of any argument.