We live in a world where everyone is offended by everything. Right now, someone is saying, "I'm offended that you think that way!". While I believe that there are admirable reasons to protest, I also believe that many protests are just selfish and could be done in a better way. Sometimes, when we are defending our offenses, many times we are attacking others.
Graduates Vs. Mike Pence
Let me explain. Two years ago, I saw a video about a graduation at Notre Dame. Vice President Mike Pence was the speaker and during his speech, hundreds of students walked off in protest. I'm extremely naive about current events, facts and fictions, and news. I know that Mike Pence has things going against him and also things going for him. I'm not going to debate his credibility because this post isn't about him. This post is about the students and parents who didn't protest.
College is a BIG deal. A person had dedicated 4+ years to studying and being able to stand before the crowd, your family, and your friends to accept that EXPENSIVE diploma is HUGE. For some people, they are the first member of their family to graduate and that experience is precious. Imagine that moment when you see your son or daughter lined up, ready to transition to the next part of their life and all of a sudden, other students mock that graduation by walking out.
Why? Because they didn't like the speaker? Because they didn't believe in what he stood for? Graduation isn't about the speaker, graduation is about the student and their accomplishments.
Mom Shaming
Another thing that bothers me is mom-shaming. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I remember going on to a mommy board and was talking about how much I couldn't wait to see my daughter. I was probably 34 weeks pregnant at the time and the moms took something so small and made it explode. I started to read, "How could you want to see your baby at 34 weeks? Don't you know that they need to go the 40 weeks?" and blah blah blah.
It just kept going on and on. The more that I tried to defend myself, the more these moms continued on a witch hunt. Have you noticed that people today can take anything that you say and manipulate it to a point so they can argue it and berate you?
Didn't I, as a pregnant woman, deserve the chance to talk about my pregnancy and my excitement to see my cute baby without getting shamed online?
Looters and Rioters
What about the protests that happen when protesters walk the streets and start to riot, block traffic, and loot others' things? The protesters may have an admirable cause, but what did the business that happened to be on the street do to them? What about the people who have to get to work on time or the ambulance trying to get somewhere? Didn't they deserve the right to, I don't, get to where they needed to go without getting delayed or having their cars dented in?
Speak up!
Well if people don't agree with how we protest things, where are they? Why don't they speak up for themselves?
Maybe we don't believe in conflict. Maybe we believe that it doesn't matter what we do, someone is always going to find a way counter it. Maybe they are doing it the same way that I am, they are writing about it making people aware that there are always two sides to every story and if you are going to get your point across, how about we don't interfere with the innocent bystanders?
Conclusion
The people who graduated two years ago aren't going to get that moment back. That day should have gone perfectly. It should have been about their accomplishment and instead that moment was stolen by those who didn't agree with one person. That wasn't a protest, that was theft. That was stealing the moment of someone else.
What about the first time mom who thought she would be able to find comfort and friends on that mommy board? What if she was doing this alone and that community that she was hoping to find, only made her scared to do it alone or for the mom who does have support, she's might have days where she's upset about what happened. Those mommy board people didn't help her. Instead, they were a thief of joy.
What about the person who was on their way to work one day and they got caught up in a riot making them late for work or an interview and they got ended up getting fired or missed out on the opportunity of a life time? That's not a protest, that was changing someones destiny.
I believe that the right to protest should be a right, otherwise who's to stop the government from overstepping? I suppose when I think of the people above, I'm sure that they were just trying to stick up for something they believed in, but perhaps they went about it the wrong way.
There are ways to protest that are peaceful and don't harm others.Those are the ones that I'm interested in to help change our future and right the wrongs of the past.
