Lost and Lifted Voices
What does it mean to be there with and for someone who has lost their voice? With relatively few exceptions we are all born with a voice. We naturally breathe in a way that allows us to make noises, to scream if necessary to make our needs known. Our hunger, our pain, our need for human contact are known by those closest to us, and sometimes to faraway strangers as well. But as we grow and move through life, walls and barriers are put up, some out of necessity, to protect us. Shame and fear teach us the shallow breath, and we begin to lose our ability to fully reveal that deepest part of who we are. Sometimes voices are silenced by the other people and systems that fear those voices. A man's anger is righteous indignation. A woman's anger is hysteria. A man raising his voice is powerful. A woman raising her voice is shrill. When any voice is raised against an oppressive system with the words, "this hurt me," those in power do everyth...