#toomanyhashtags #icantkeepup #buttheyareimportant

Today is the nationwide Women’s March. I am home with a bad cold so it is probably not a good idea to go marching out in the winter weather, but I am there in spirit.  I believe in the Women’s March.  I marched last year and I thought it was so inspirational. 

I try to be active and involved in events and issues that matter, but lately I have found that it can get pretty overwhelming.   Sitting on the couch, feeling bad that I couldn’t participate, I spent time looking at the tweets and posts about the march.  Some of the important hashtags I saw included #firstwemarch #thenwerun #womentothepolls  These hashtags are there to inspire the women who marched and the women like me  to get involved and continue to actively participate in important issues that affect us. 

I strongly believe in the #Blacklivesmatter movement.  I wrote a blog post about #blacklivesmatter where I tried to articulate how important this issue is. (http://lookingonthesunnyside.blogspot.com/2016/07/my-thoughts-on-race-black-lives-matter.html)  I know that this is an ongoing issue and one blog post or tweet won’t fix the problem.  I care.  I really do. 

I also care deeply about the recent #metoo movement on social media.  Like the millions of women who tweeted, I too can relate to the scourge of sexual harassment. Although I was excited that we were finally publically having a conversation about this issue that led to some abusers being called out for their atrocious behavior, I was appalled at the idea of a thirty year old man trying “date” at 14 year old. Which led to women across the country sharing pictures of themselves at 14 with the hastag #MeAt14.  Not surprisingly I wrote a blog post about that too. (http://lookingonthesunnyside.blogspot.com/2017/11/meat14.html)  The issue of sexual assault is so incredibly important, and like #blacklivesmatter it is not something that will be solved by one blog post or a few retweets. 

I am encouraged and excited about the new #timesup initiative that was created to help deal with the #metoo movement.  We need to have a plan and work toward safe work environments for all women and men. 

These hashtags and the movements they represent are important.  In our new world of social media connections these hashtags are how we can identify with a particular cause that we care about.  I am concerned that people may get burned out by all of this alphabet soup, but I will continue to speak out, and tweet out my support because I do believe that together we can and will make a difference. ..hey maybe I should make that my new hashtag #TogetherWeCanMakeADifference