Content Warning: Discussion of Sexual Violence
That hand is over your mouth — again. That hand and that weight is on you and has you trapped and you’re about to get raped — again.
But this time that hand and that weight isn’t just from a drunken frat-boy who wants to get his rocks off. This time that hand and that weight belongs to the President of the United States, to the U.S. Senate and the future of the U.S. Supreme Court, to all the well-intentioned and/or mean-spirited people in the stands screaming and yelling and threatening that you’d better give them what they want, you’d better help them get their rocks off — or you’ll be very very sorry.
Whatever you decide to do, the future of the Supreme Court is not your problem, the pathology of Donald Trump is not your problem, the corruption of this Republican Congress who wants to rape the spirit of the constitution by cramming through this lifetime nomination before the election — IS NOT YOUR PROBLEM.
They may be your concern, they may create a sense of moral responsibility and an urgency in you as an American citizen — but they are not your problem.
Your problem is to get that hand and that weight off you. To reclaim the power of your own voice. To give yourself permission to have one and permission to use it. To somehow find a way to use this nightmare as an opportunity — not to free the country, but to free yourself from whatever terrors that night 36 years ago imposed on you.
In other words…to hell with Donald Trump, to hell with Brett Cavanaugh, to hell with the Senate, with hashtags and bottom-feeders — to hell with all those people who really don’t give a shit about who you are, what happened to you, and what you have to say about it.
Show up and testify. Don’t show up and testify. It’s your call and always will be.
Look to the people you love, to the people who love you,. Look into the heart of that 15 yr-old girl inside you.
Do what’s best for her and what’s best for you.
Whatever that is, it will be what’s best for all of us.
September 20, 2018