Our bodies, ourselves

In the photo, a woman, perhaps she is a dancer, is looking up, she's looking skyward for answers, so, perhaps she is seeking a higher power. Once it was called searching for an answer via the God conduit. But that process has fallen out of favor, thank God, I said laughing. I certainly had an uneasy relationship with the idea of God at an early age. 

Even as a small child I had an unusually strong sense of self, call it freewill. I questioned everything, much to the chagrin of my teachers, and the nuns. That time the nuns said the reason why it was raining was because we were naughty in church and God was crying. 

Well, that did it, I was indignant and asked what if he was peeing on us? Chaos ensued. I flunked First Communion, perhaps the only child in history to do so. I was six.

There was an Irish saint, Pelagius, who was excommunicated twice. Once during his lifetime, which was rescinded, and then again after his death, he was tried again in absentia for promulgating the idea of free will. We can't have anyone thinking for themselves, the church said. 

A battle this nation is facing today in spades. I don't know what the answer is, but here we are trying to find our way back to that wonderment we once felt as children. We are trying to get back to the garden.

Most mornings begin with my spam box, all my political emails and petitions are rerouted to the spam box because there are no graphics, I have dyslexia, so flashing bits and color distract and befuddle me, making me not only anxiety-ridden, but also angry. 

So, I begin my morning by signing petitions. During this day and age, the least I can do is to object to the myriad laws designed to suppress our civil rights, especially those of women, and those who are otherly-abled. 

See, when I was still going to church, it was the era of ERA, the beginning of women's rights, our bodies were being politicized. It began with the introduction of The Pill. Meanwhile, organized religion was trying to suppress us all. Something snapped, I was 17, how dare the church dictate what I could and couldn't do with my body? 

At least in those days there was still somewhat of a separation between church and state. We took up the banner the Suffragists had held aloft. Our bodies, ourselves, we chanted. We had the vote and we used it. And now it's the government suppressing the vote, pissing on us, telling us what we can and can't do with our bodies, ourselves. 

4/23/ TheNarrativeMethod.com prompt