I have become a crusader in my own backyard. Never once did I believe that I could loose such faith in our state government as I have. Silence.
It’s gone beyond anger now, Michigan. It’s become disgust and rebellion. My daughter needed a voice and I decided that in order for her to be heard, it needed to come from me, her mother. The one that knows every emotion, every beat, every ounce of her being. I am her crusader and I will fight to see things right.
You see, Michigan, you’ve stolen something away from our youth. You’ve given them fear and anxiety. They are feeling emotions that should never have been felt and misunderstood at such a young age and yet, you want us to pretend that what you do, what you decide is best for us is okay.
It’s not.
And who truly gives you the right to decide? Government has become a disgrace here in the mitten state. Many, have begun to feel as if the very nature of our being, our essence is being stripped. Every right we were given all those years ago, have been taken. Snatched right out from underneath us. I ask you, to what end do we take the abuse? How long do we promise our kids that the next press conference will hold the answer they and we have been waiting for?
It’s a joke really. A casino can be open, but a gym can’t? Recreational programs are failing, kids that rely on those activities now have nothing. Small business owners are suffering, some closing doors because with no income, they can’t survive. You are toying with the lives of people who are dependent on their job in a field you refuse to reengage.
Why?
I ask this, not just for myself but for the thousands of us that have been calling your office that you say we don’t call because you’ve received no awareness. Let’s call that out for what it is—being a coward. Please explain to me how it is and was that you expected and encouraged parents to send their kids to in person learning, when it isn’t safe for them to be in a private gym, hockey rink, or any enclosed facility? How is cramming 30 students in a room with 3 feet between their desks and them wearing masks all day better? Please show me the data you’ve collected that says its’ a danger to their health to be in an enclosed area when schools are fine.
Better yet, let’s fall back to that casino you allowed to reopen. Say a parent heads down there to try and win big, or maybe not even a parent, anyone for that matter. They sit there for hours and play until their heart is content and then come back to their families. And that family has children and that child goes to school and the person in the family didn’t know they had the illness and gave it to the kid and then, just like the snap of the fingers, we have a surge in numbers. But, having that casino open is so very vital to our state’s income and resources and let’s not forget it’s “essential.”
Is it possible that there is something very wrong with that? No, not possible, it is WRONG.
And yet, you just pretend as if everything is fantastic up in your governor’s mansion, because yes, the casinos are doing their job, meanwhile are kids are losing their dreams, their aspirations, their sanity all because you hold them back.
I find it odd that a few weeks ago, I saw a baseball game in the park behind my house. The kids were not spaced apart, they wore no masks, the ball wasn’t sanitized after it was pitched and yet, because it’s outside, this is acceptable? You’ve got to be kidding me.
I don’t understand the rationality behind this. I don’t understand how I can drive down my street with my daughter next to me and witness a game being played and parents cheering and have to explain to my daughter that it’s okay because they are outside. That’s BS and you know it.
This whole thing makes no sense to me. Is there sick enjoyment being had over watching us parents fight? Do you enjoy the protests and the attention it receives. Every news channel has covered our story. With little to no comment from the offices within that big old white building on Michigan’s Capital Hill.
Yet, I know that this letter will get no where. It won’t reach you. I’m just one parent out of millions. I’m just one person, but this ONE person, started that Gymnastic Dreamers petition that has gone viral. This one person, alongside her dedicated and hardworking friend, coach and colleague paved the way for our voices to begun to be heard and yet, no recognition for our hard work and diligence, because it’s easy to sweep the underdog under the rug. It’s easy to pretend that the little and tiny don’t matter, but it’s the little and mighty that are fiercest. We don’t ask for the praise, we don’t ask for recognition, we don’t ask for anything but for you to hear our children’s voices.
And you hear nothing. Is it because it’s easier to not. Is it because you know we are right? Because we’ve shown the data, we’ve presented evidence and numbers, charts and our safety protocols. Other states around us have stood behind us offering their assistance when needed, opening up their training facilities for us to use. They have heard us, they have cared. How can a state government outside our own care for the wellbeing of our lives and children’s but our doesn’t?
What a disgrace, what a dishonor it is to be a resident of this state that has so much to offer. So much to represent.
Michigan, anger is not the right word to describe the emotions that circulate around us—despise is a better fit. But what else can be said that hasn’t already?
This will only fall on deaf ears.
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