The safety of women in our country. 

Where do you even start? 

That’s honestly the hardest question I find sometimes and that goes for any major issue whether personal to myself or observed through others or actions around me. I guess the best and most honest answer to that then is..

‘I don’t know”.

I want to write this a trail of thought as I didn’t set out with a finish line in mind or a single point that I know how to get to. Instead I’m writing this in the honest format of not knowing the outcome, but as if I were having the discussion with myself to better find it.

So maybe that’s a good place to start.

‘I don’t know”.  

Admittance! 

Acknowledging that I just don’t know where to start. That maybe no one knows where to start. That maybe this is the first obstacle to observe, measure and then tackle if we have any hope of giving the issue at hand the best possible results of our efforts. Surely through the admittance of ignorance, we allow ourselves the best platform to begin any learning? 

Maybe,

But then, it’s tough not knowing stuff right? People don’t like to lose face. 

“Just act like ya know what they’re talking about, or shut up and say nothin”. 

It’s not always easy to allow your ignorance to be seen and so we create the facade of understanding or a defensive front to what we don’t fully understand. 

Ok well then if that’s the case, how do we dissolve these insecurities of ignorance? Not to pander to those who are by nature ill-meaning or basically just the pricks of society, but to give guidance and encouragement to the unknowing people so as to in turn give learning and the solutions to problems the best possible foundation for success for all those willing and wanting to partake.

Maybe

That sounds like a bit of a pipe dream though, almost impossible to think we could make such big changes. But why not? Why couldn’t we, cause there’s absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t!

Muhammad Ali once famously said,

“Impossible is just a big word thrown around by small men who find it easier to live in the world they’ve been given than to explore the power they have to change it”

I can’t really think of a better way to articulate that. The only reasons we can have for not changing something is either that we agree with things as they are and don’t want them to change, or that changing it is too hard and we don’t value the need to change it. 

There shouldn’t have to be a debate over why protecting a person’s life or safety is important yet that seems to be where we are at and what we are trying to prove for some reason. Perhaps there are just too many people unwilling to admit that they “don’t know” and unwilling to learn about what needs to change. 

Well then maybe that’s where I need to start. I need to start helping those who “don’t know”, become open to admitting ignorance, and start learning the value of change for those who we value.

If I cannot see 

Then how can I guide

First, my sight must be opened 

Before I help the blind

And with all our eyes open

We can see every side

For every mother and sister

A change we will find