It was at about age 14 that I started to lose my voice, not literally of course, but the voice that felt confident enough to have an opinion, let alone believe that anyone else would want to hear it.
One of the beauties (yes I did associate that word with leukaemia) of having a life-threatening illness is that you can lose the inhibition that growing up in the real world gives you. You gain a 'what have I got to lose' approach to life.
With that comes the courage to actually go for things I would once never have thought of doing, to say things I would never have said and to have opinions and learn to vocalise them. Many people lack confidence, I've found it's often the ones who seem most gregarious that are actually some of the least confident people underneath.
I get cross at the cruelty of other people that cause others to lose confidence with the words that they say, sometimes deliberately, sometimes to be fair, without thinking, I don't imagine I have been totally innocent of that. I wish that I could inject confidence into people so that the normality of life didn't have to effect them and bring them down, but I've learnt, from experience that has to come from within....
So now I have a voice, and what's more I can feel the passion inside again that is needed to have an opinion and voice it - and strangely, twitter has been a vessel to help me develop that further, to voice what I feel.
So let's talk about equality........I absolutely, totally, completely believe in equality. I was born equal to every other man and woman, colour, crede, ability, faith. I may not always understand, but yes, I do mean equal.
Yes, I'm a feminist, and no that's not a contradiction. Two of my best-loved books were written by Germaine Greer, a third is Bitch by Elizabeth Wurtzel.....feminist lit at its best. But I guess it's the perception of the reader cos I don't seem them as male-hating, bra burning zealots. In fact quite the opposite, in my reading of them they advocate equality, not superiority.
But I don't think equality means that we have to lose respect for each other, or lose the ability to care enough to be kind to one another. I'd happily hold the door open for a man and I don't think he's insulting my independence by doing the same for me, all I would like in return is a thank-you and I would most happily greet a door being held open for me with a smile and a thanks - it's about respect!
I love the people on twitter who advocate doing something kind every day - let's all just do that.
I fail to understand why some people think that they are better than another, why they think they have the right to hate someone else. That is why tonight I will be kitting myself up with a candle and spending the evening with Norwich Pride at a candlelit vigil against hate crime, because it's time to have a voice and it's time to make it heard........
Call me a lily-livered liberal or a lentil eating veggie if you like, feel free - because this girl has finally learnt to have the confidence to be comfortable with the labels you choose to throw at me :-)
One of the beauties (yes I did associate that word with leukaemia) of having a life-threatening illness is that you can lose the inhibition that growing up in the real world gives you. You gain a 'what have I got to lose' approach to life.
With that comes the courage to actually go for things I would once never have thought of doing, to say things I would never have said and to have opinions and learn to vocalise them. Many people lack confidence, I've found it's often the ones who seem most gregarious that are actually some of the least confident people underneath.
I get cross at the cruelty of other people that cause others to lose confidence with the words that they say, sometimes deliberately, sometimes to be fair, without thinking, I don't imagine I have been totally innocent of that. I wish that I could inject confidence into people so that the normality of life didn't have to effect them and bring them down, but I've learnt, from experience that has to come from within....
So now I have a voice, and what's more I can feel the passion inside again that is needed to have an opinion and voice it - and strangely, twitter has been a vessel to help me develop that further, to voice what I feel.
So let's talk about equality........I absolutely, totally, completely believe in equality. I was born equal to every other man and woman, colour, crede, ability, faith. I may not always understand, but yes, I do mean equal.
Yes, I'm a feminist, and no that's not a contradiction. Two of my best-loved books were written by Germaine Greer, a third is Bitch by Elizabeth Wurtzel.....feminist lit at its best. But I guess it's the perception of the reader cos I don't seem them as male-hating, bra burning zealots. In fact quite the opposite, in my reading of them they advocate equality, not superiority.
But I don't think equality means that we have to lose respect for each other, or lose the ability to care enough to be kind to one another. I'd happily hold the door open for a man and I don't think he's insulting my independence by doing the same for me, all I would like in return is a thank-you and I would most happily greet a door being held open for me with a smile and a thanks - it's about respect!
I love the people on twitter who advocate doing something kind every day - let's all just do that.
I fail to understand why some people think that they are better than another, why they think they have the right to hate someone else. That is why tonight I will be kitting myself up with a candle and spending the evening with Norwich Pride at a candlelit vigil against hate crime, because it's time to have a voice and it's time to make it heard........
Call me a lily-livered liberal or a lentil eating veggie if you like, feel free - because this girl has finally learnt to have the confidence to be comfortable with the labels you choose to throw at me :-)
