But Were They Though???...

 

Hi!

I don't know about you, but I hear quite often how people are missing the so-called good old days. They are nostalgic for a rose-coloured image from a rearview mirror that distorts the perception into some romanticized version of the past. 

Most of the people I hear this from are included in a specific demographic. Privilege. 

If, in the past you, weren't allowed to buy a house, or rent one, for that matter, get a credit card, have a bank account, dress the way you like, love who you love, marry who you want to marry, felt that your biology didn't match your soul, or had a complexion other than translucent, chances are, you have zero desire to travel back in time. 

Personally, with every step of acceptance, with every move toward inclusivity, as generationally, the human race becomes less mayo-esque in hue, I find myself feeling more and more at peace with the world. 

There are certain parcels of people who want to shove people back into the closets they were forced to hide in. Trying to claim that the whole of the LBGTQ+ community are, somehow, newcomers to society.

If you look back far enough you will find that centuries ago, our rainbow warriors were revered as the rare and beautiful unicorns they are. It was a subtle shift in society, slowly, as men stopped wearing tights and wigs and society came to believe that "others" needed to be owned, suppressed, hidden, and/or simply destroyed, that treatment of those who no longer fit in these ever-tightening societal 'norms' went completely off the rails. 

As organized religions became more powerful, seizing ownership of everyone's moral compass, claiming the "my beliefs are correct and the rest of you are damned" mentality, they began to make their own rules, turning their religious beliefs into laws for all. 

Now, the religions with the wealthiest members, 99.9% white, of course, made the most rules, colonizing, forcing themselves both literally and metaphorically upon fellow humans, wherever their money took them. They stole children under the guise of salvation, they imprisoned, they enslaved, they abused, whip in one hand and a bible in the other. 

Then, in very recent history, new generations began to recognize the poison. and started to push for change. Civil unrest became the instrument, the antidote, to make it possible. Young people who were willing to push against the antiquated thinking of their parents and grandparents, changed the world. 

Progress became tangible. 

This was the trend... for a while.

No there aren't all of a sudden way more rainbow warriors, people of colour, or more of any group some would like to label as "other" than there ever were. 

The only thing that changed is the migration from the dark corner of collective closets into the sun.

The only thing that changed is the fact that rights for equality were just beginning to take a small hold.

The only thing that changed is that women are done asking for equality and are beginning to demand it.

There aren't more, just more visible.

Then, those who have held all of the power for far too long began to feel threatened by the changes they began to see. And the "otherizing" began once again.

Once again, rainbow warriors became targets of hate, along with anyone who didn't fit in their white, tiny boxes of "normal."

Once again, women's bodily autonomy was pulled back.

Once again, people of certain colours or religions are experiencing overt and blatant prejudice.

If you find yourself feeling nostalgic for yesteryear, thinking that times were simpler, times were easier, times were better... were they, though?

Well, maybe they were for you, but not for everyone. 

Let go of a past that contains way more darkness than our history books would lead us to believe. Accept the fact that white people, who are the ones who wrote the history books by the way, were much more often the villain, especially during the last few centuries, than they ever were the hero.

Looking ahead, now that we know better, we have every opportunity to do better. 

We owe it to those who come after us to do just that.

Vote for the changes to create a society your great-grandbabies, the great-grandbabies of those you care for, and all future generations can thrive in, and will be able to look back on with pride. 

All we can do, with our short time on this planet, is try to steer society in a direction our descendants will be able to study and see we did our part to do right by every human. 

Let's do everything we can so that when they look back, they don't have to be ashamed of the actions of their ancestors the way we are. 

Let's do this. 

We are not doomed to repeat the shameful mistakes of those who came before us. We simply have to choose not to. 

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