*Ahem*

When a man speaks up, he's strong. He's forthright. He's confident.
When a woman speaks up, she's a bitch.

At work today a situation arose, and I felt an absolute need to make myself heard. And as soon as I did, I was the bitch. How can that be? Why aren't women allowed to speak up when we have the right to? Why are we met with defensiveness, behind the back talking, and hostility? And this is from other women 99% of the time.

I've experienced this with co-workers and friends. I wish that when I present myself and the issue to someone we could simply have a conversation and work it out maturely. But that rarely happens. And then real damage is done to relationships. And I don't know why.

Personally, I feel like it is my God (or allah, or the mighty universe or whatever) given right when I feel wronged, or hurt, or confused or that a child is being put in an unhealthy situation to speak up, confront, and make myself heard.

If I spend my whole life in silence. If I allow others to tread on me and make a mess of the parts of me that are happy, and strong- what good does that do? And if I allow them to do that to a child, or someone else, isn't that just plain wrong?

I've found of myself that I'm capable of 100% forgiveness. I mean it too. I let things go. Life is too short. Too important. Too frightful already to keep anger bottled up like precious wine. It's actually like having your soul marinate in spoiled milk.

I guess I'll have to be content with my Bitch title for now. Because I sure as hell am going to continue to stand up for the things that really matter.