December 1, 2025. Short and (Not So) Sweet

 I promised not to get political here. I may be dangerously close to overstepping that line, but my heart hurts.

Recently, what's-his-face in the White House called the Minnesota governor a slur so offensive and, in light of the fact that Governor Walz is the parent to a neurodivergent son, simply unforgivable.

As children, we'd have had our fannies paddled for uttering the word. Our kids were brought up to NEVER say it.

As a teen, I taught handicapped and disabled adults swimming lessons, as well as a few children. I worked for 12 years in our local school system in the Special Education department. That word was never used to describe any one of those humans, by anyone.

I've been pretty open about having to delete Facebook several years ago due to the toxic nature of social media, and how it was affecting my mental health. I swore this time it would not get the best of me.

In the past few days, I've blocked some of my "friends" over the fact that they found justification for the use of that term.  One was particularly heartbreaking for me, as I would never have thought it of them, to think that calling someone the R word was okay. It just is not.

I'm unapologetic in doing so, no matter who it is. By normalizing name-calling and slurs, we become part of the problem. By speaking up, we help bring awareness and intolerance of that kind of treatment, no matter how "important" the person spewing it may be.

Thanks for allowing me to get this off my chest. I was honestly feeling a bit ill over it, and knew I had to put it down in print to get some peace. ☘

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