February 6 - Chelsea Clinton

Hello once more, o invisible reader.

Trigger warning / spoiler alert / etc - this is going to be a politically oriented blog post. Sorry not sorry. o3o

Today, at my college, Chelsea Clinton came to speak on behalf of her mother, Hillary Clinton.

(Side note - I googled both "Hillary Clinton" [to ascertain I spelled her name correctly] and "Hillary Clinton daughter" [to ascertain I spelled Chelsea's name correctly]. Apparently, Chelsea Clinton has a Wikipedia page about her. Wow, and I just saw her not half an hour ago.)

...

I know that I have opportunities most people do not have. For example, I am currently attending college. One of the topics Chelsea spoke about was how her mom wants to make college more affordable. Something about taxing higher income families ($250k+/year earners) more.

College is not a right. So, what with Bernie Sanders talking about free public college, I'm like, yeah, nope. o3o

My family makes (I believe) around $60k/year. (Though, technically, with the Germany property, it says something SIGNIFICANTLY higher on our tax returns, but we don't actually SEE any of that money [which is why I didn't qualify for federally funded work study, {though my school did hire me as a student worker}]). Even so, I don't think we need to tax wealthier people to pay for other people. The $250k+ people... that's their money. Like, it's THEIR money. THEIRS. Not mine, not yours, THEIRS.

(Did I make my point clear? o3o If the wealthy people want to give their money away, let them do it and HUZZAHS FOR THEM IF THEY DO. But, seriously, it's theirs. :/ )

So, while I wouldn't say no to lower tuition costs, if it literally cost other people for me to pursue something for my gain... that's not right imo.

But back to the more opportunities whatnot I mentioned before. I will be graduating without any debt, due to a combination of scholarships and a college fund from my grandfather. I know that many/most people do not have that opportunity. I promise you, I know that. (#blessed (?) )

Something that was also talked about was health care. Once more, I've been blessed to have TriCare Prime (though now it's TriCare Prime Young Adult until further notice [because we sent off the appeal form for me to stay on the family plan]). My father EARNED that, through his 20 years of service in the Navy.

Another topic discussed was a woman's right to choose.

I am pro-life. I (intellectually) understand/know that there are near countless reasons a woman would want an abortion (rape, incest, not being ready, umsw). A while ago, I saw a Buzzfeed post about women "Shouting [their] abortion," about them celebrating the fact that they had one and refusing to be shamed about it anymore. One woman said something about how in [year] she had an abortion because she wasn't ready to be a mother and now she is able to be a better mother to her other kids.

My mother has a story that I'm not going to share on here (because it's her story, not mine), but she is SUPER pro-life as well. She has also said something along the lines of, if you don't want / can't take care of / etc your child, give him/her up for adoption. There are people out there who would LOVE to have a child, but can't. (Idk anything about the stats re: that, so... yeah.)

Maybe I'm old-fashioned (no, I'm definitely old-fashioned compared to some of the women here, eek. :x)

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Honestly, I just want to tune all of this out, stick my fingers in my ears and go "LALALALA." It's so hard to be around so many other people with (radically!) different viewpoints. When Chelsea spoke of Republicans, it wasn't mean/snide/etc, but it was negative. (Like, if a Republican gets elected, we'll lose all the progress we've made over the past eight years.)

ALSO, THAT'S ANOTHER THING. When Chelsea spoke about progressives, she spoke about the progressive movement as a positive thing. Honestly, that is probably the first time I've heard progressives being a positive entity. My parents are super conservative, and I am less so, but still conservative. If I went home tomorrow and said that I'm now a progressive, they might have heart attacks, lol (but not lol o3o).

As my friend B says, BAH. (And as my keyboard types, ><).

Dear Lord,

Thank You for everything You have blessed me with. Seriously, thanks a million and a half (which rounds up to a million and one o3o).

Please give me peace. Please give me wisdom, wisdom with... everything.

Please give me the words to say if/when I engage in dialogue with others (especially in Religion and Public Life).

PLEASE give me peace about post-grad.

(Also, please give me the words to say when I talk to my parents about the summer mission trip opportunities.)

In Your name, Lord,
Amen <3 p="">