A Post a Day in May 2019 #17: Know Your Mind

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I have pledged to write a new post for this blog every day in May. 

“Know your mind, and why and how you’re doing what matters to you. And keep going.” 
Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of US House of Representatives (79 years of age) 

 I read this good advice from Nancy Pelosi on Sara Paretsky's Facebook page a while back, and it has stayed in my mind. It is especially pertinent these days, I think, when so much information and misinformation is floating around, wanting to divert us from our plans and pervert our way of thinking. 

But that’s not to say it’s easy advice to follow; it isn’t. It takes effort and intention to know one’s mind, and it takes fortitude to persist with what one comes to know. 

 Clarity of individual mind is the crucial first step that leads to public action and civic engagement. This is why, four decades after I first started, I continue to speak out on abortion rights and reproductive choice: I know my mind on this matter, and have known since I was in my late teens. A woman must have control and agency over her body.
What's at stake, exhibit #1
Without this right, her citizenship is diminished, her personhood demeaned. I choose, consciously and deliberately, to put myself forward as a spokesperson on abortion rights because the issue is core to my politics, because I can speak out and others cannot, and because too much is at stake for me to remain silent, even four decades on. 

So, Madam Speaker: I know my mind on this matter. I know why it matters to me. And I know how I will continue to share my views publicly — in my writing, in media interviews, and in collective actions. 

What's at stake, exhibit #2


Thanks for reading. 

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Writers want to be read; at least, this writer wants to be read, so comments, rebuttals and feedback are all welcome. Subscribe to the blog to receive the posts direct into your email inbox. 

Comments

  1. FintaMay 17, 2019 at 7:37 AM

    Could you please cross over the border in time for our election?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Susan HealdMay 17, 2019 at 10:56 PM

    Thank goodness you know, know how and why, and you do it! Thanks, Amanda.

    ReplyDelete

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