Roe Your Vote
Harris to 'stop this pain' and 'injustice' from abortion bans
Photo by Ian Hutchinson on Unsplash
Dateline: June 24, 2022
When the Dobbs decision was handed down from the Supreme Court, I was working at WeWork at a shared desk.
If I am lucky, like today, I can find a private cubby, but some days I have to share a desk. I’m a little light-sensitive myself; perhaps I am part vampire, or I have spent too much time in nightlife to be used to the sun.
Across from me at a standing desk was a young woman in her twenties, who now has fewer rights than me or the middle-aged white man nearby, working on his code or replying to Slack messages with gifs of dancing polar bears or whatever it is we do.
She went over to the shade and turned it so that the sun wasn’t shining in her eyes anymore. It was certainly a meaningful metaphor. Then this guy, lacking any sort of self-awareness, started to argue with her about the state of the window shade. His comfort over hers, or theirs, or ours.
Exhausted from the minor conflict, I think she just moved across the room to another desk away from both him and the offending sunlight. Exhausted from trying to please men. Exhausted for having to say, “I’m sorry” one hundred times a day for not even being in the way but feeling in the way.
It wasn’t the sort of conflict that I needed to insert myself into. The stakes were very low. Trust me, I know when I can and will stick up for someone who is being treated unfairly. Like when I hear racist slurs at the goddamn dinner table, I won’t be fucking silent about it.
I just couldn’t believe it. The absolute gall of this prick. Today, of all days. Maybe he didn’t read the news on Twitter that morning like I did. Sunny day in Cambridge aside, there was a dark cloud over this country.
A Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade had just happened hours before. It was an unimaginable outcome. Women in this country woke up that day with fewer Constitutionally guaranteed rights, while the outdated—but sure as hell still dominating—patriarchal ruling class of 2022 reigned on. Extremists on the Court placed by an insurrectionist president keen on tearing the government down from the inside out.
I was seething with rage. Not about the window shade but at the audacity of this guy. Today, of all days. Not that any day would excuse the behavior.
I wanted to scream and wheel him full-on into a glass conference room door. Luckily, I keep those internal monologues under a Bruce Banner-like suppression.
To be honest, perhaps the news of Dobbs hadn’t reached this young lady (I doubt it).
When elected president, Vice President Kamala Harris will restore Roe. I used to yell, “Codify Roe!” at the local Planned Parenthood protest monsters; now I just call them monsters. Abortion is healthcare. Keep that in mind on November 5th.
Do it for your mother, your daughter, your sisters, your friends.
And maybe show a little grace when faced with the trivial discomfort of not getting your way on the window shade or the fucking thermostat.
The future is here right now.
Sadly, there is only a "like" button for these, but I guess the heart can convery that I love this post. Thanks you for writing it. I hope it impacts otehrs the way it did me. You are a good white dude.