I had no idea, when I wrote Thursday's blog "Floodgates" early in the morning, that the word would take on even more resonance as the day wore on. The few days since then have shaken the country, as traumas have been remembered, shame has surfaced or re-surfaced, and hard conversations could no longer be put off. It is like hands across a million mouths and forearms across a million windpipes, whether real or metaphorical, are being peeled off. The assumption of silence, long teetering on the edge, may finally be a thing of the past.
How much of our construct has been based on the silence of women, children, so-called minorities (no one should be called "minor"), and Mother Earth ("Heck, let's extract every last natural resource from her body. She isn't saying anything.") What happens to all our institutions when the silent begin to open their mouths?
I listened to Dr. Ford's opening statement, then I turned the TV off. I personally could not bear to hear her questioned or challenged. She spoke her truth, and did the best she could, courageously. In the wake of everything I have been trying to make sense of in my own life, that was all I could take in, on Thursday anyway.
This is a most extraordinary time.
