I have participated in two protests since Trump's inauguration and there is a chant that was used at both that continues to play in my head, on repeat, on a daily basis: "This is what democracy looks like." Since Trump's inauguration, there have been many protests and rallies against his policies, yet there are many who believe that the protests should stop--that it is un-American for us to not get behind our president, even though we believe he is wholly unfit to lead our country. I would like to point out that 1) there were numerous protests against Obama after he became president, and 2) we have the constitutional right to speak out against any elected official with whom we do not agree. In fact, the right to free speech was so important to our founding fathers that they made it the 1st amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
I bring this up because I have a long-time friend--"M"--who is being told that she needs to stop expressing her views about Trump, even though her husband is a 30-year Army veteran who has gone to war numerous times on behalf of our country. (The above photo is of M welcoming her husband home after yet another long deployment. I am not using her name here to protect her and her family.) This morning, after months of frustration, she posted a poignant message on her personal Facebook page. I urge you to read it here in its entirety:
"Lately, I've seen a few memes on here that have quotes about those who protest, or those who are Democrats, or those that do not support our President, are un-American, or un-patriotic, and I have tried to keep my mouth shut, but simply just cannot anymore.
As a military wife of almost 30 years, I have watched my husband walk away from me and his children countless times to schools, training, temporary duty, and war as his children and I learn to live and function and have a "normal" life without him. A normal life that consists of watching the news just to catch a glimpse of him or where he may be. A normal life of watching your children cry themselves to sleep because their daddy isn't there, or crying myself to sleep every night, praying that he would make it home alive, as I tried my best to raise 5 children alone.
So to those of you that believe that those of us who question our government are unpatriotic or un-American, I have to say this...until you have flown to another state to spend Christmas with your Fiance, only to find out from the news once you get there that he's gone fighting a war, until your spouse has deployed 2 months after you got married, only to be able to come home to bury his Father and have to go right back, until you find out that you're pregnant with your first child and have to tell your husband through FAX and him not receive it, until your husband gets the call that he's leaving the next day for war when you are 7 months pregnant and you have to give birth without him there, until you've had to go into surgery alone and wake up alone, because your mom has to stay with your kids, until you have to watch your husband come home from war to children who don't even know who he is, as you watch him cry because of it, until you've had to move from country to country, state to state because the army says so, and watch your children cry because they have to leave their schools and friends once again, until you've watched your own family unfollow or delete you on FB because you question your new government with all of its lies, corruption, and lack of respect for our constitution, after all you have sacrificed as a military family, please do not tell me that I'm unamerican, or unpatriotic, because you honestly don't have a clue."
M's husband and, subsequently, her family have devoted their lives to protecting America and the principles on which it was founded. They, better than most, understand that our ability to openly speak out about our political leaders is a gift and is not one to be taken for granted. Of course Trump supporters can continue to express their desire for the protests to stop, and they can even continue to unfriend and block friends on social media--just as some of us on the other side of the aisle have unfriended and blocked them. But to call people who have the legal right to speak out against elected officials "un-American" is reprehensible and flat out wrong. Using our voices to express our viewpoints is exactly what democracy--and America--looks like.
This is what democracy looks like!
