Won’t stand for it

Each day as I read about the activities in our state, I become more concerned as one group after another becomes the target of discrimination. I say to myself, “But it is not me personally, so I do not need to stand up.” Then I go on about my life.

After all, I am an old, retired white lady. What do I care about immigrants and their pink-striped driver’s license? Unemployment benefits decreasing? The public schools being dismantled? Assault guns being promoted for hunting purposes? Removing the “death tax” affecting less than 1 percent of the state’s population? Denying health care to the poorest among us? Highlighting only the potential negative outcomes of an abortion? Refusing to acknowledge the benefits of Planned Parenthood? Promoting fracking under the pretense that it helps the poor while also talking about storing the wastewater along the shore, perhaps hindering the tourist business? Promoting photo IDs to fix an imagined problem?

None of these affect me personally, so why stand up? But when they suddenly do, who will stand up for me?

Dr. Margie Maddox

Cary