voice – NCRSOL https://ncrsol.org Fighting for registered citizens and families Fri, 06 Sep 2019 03:23:45 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://ncrsol.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/cropped-cropped-NCFlag2-32x32.jpg voice – NCRSOL https://ncrsol.org 32 32 165103099 I have a voice https://ncrsol.org/2019/09/i-have-a-voice/ https://ncrsol.org/2019/09/i-have-a-voice/#comments Thu, 05 Sep 2019 00:45:05 +0000 https://ncrsol.org/?p=3461 Written by Phoebe . . . I have a voice.  I really do.  But when you have been through something like my family has been through, there’s a period of time where you lose your voice.  You’re broken.  You’re probably at a point where you need to talk to people but sometimes you just can’t.  Thank you, God, for the people in my life who reached to me when I didn’t even know I needed it.  Thank you for the people who lifted me up on the days when I was down.  Thank you to my friend who said I was entitled to go through emotions, but that I couldn’t stay in those emotions. I had to experience and go through them.  I couldn’t skip them or go around them but rather I had to move through them.

Over the last several years my voice has started to return.  I found a renewed spirit, pushing me to advocate for fair laws. This is way out of my comfort zone.  But I am a citizen, I am a voter, and I am entitled to laws which are fair to everyone.  Unfortunately, the registry laws are not fair to everyone.  One of the most frustrating things I have experienced is the feeling that I, as an individual, am not important to lawmakers.  That I as an individual don’t deserve to be heard.  That the only way I will get anywhere is if I am supported by an advocacy group.  Everyone has a story, everyone has opinions.  I challenge you to join NCRSOL so that our lawmakers will hear you, too.  I wish I could tell you that they would listen to you as a stand-alone individual, but generally that is not the case.  My very first call to a lawmaker’s office included the question, “What group are you with?”  My naïve answer was, “Group?  I am an individual citizen.”  Needless to say, I got nowhere and the lawmaker would not speak with me.  That’s just one example but there have been many more.  I still encourage you to advocate as an individual, but I also encourage you to join a group.  We deserve to be heard.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Be a change agent…

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