At some point in the second week of November I spoke my mind via a Facebook posting that got a lot of people’s  (mostly family members…) panties in a complete wad, creating many comments thrown at me. I responded just the way I present myself which is very direct. I had no intention of removing my post, until my wife had received so much butt-hurt backlash from our family members that, through much anger and words of such sentiment, I deleted the bloody thing, which is the most lethal thing I could have possibly done. Such behaviours, I consider anyways, up roots my entire stance which is freedom of speech and this is the subject of my next series of paragraphs.

The last thing I am is a middle-fingers-in-your-face, eff the world kind of man. Quite the contrary, I am a Christian man and husband, and father to four children. But like any man, Christian or not, I have a voice and I, mostly through my passion of writing, have come to realize how important my voice actually is.

I never had a literal voice growing up, or not much of one any way. I stuttered horrifically from about the age of two point something until my late teens. The lack of speaking like normal people was mostly apparent with my family members, most importantly with my mother. But my self confidence took a huge hit, making me feel different from everyone else and causing me to communicate often through written notes. This, I believe, birthed my love of the craft of penmanship and it helped shape me into the writer I am today. I’m a firm believer in ‘everything happens for a reason’ and this was no different.

I will speak my mind, clear and simple. The people that were so angered by my one viewpoint had options but they chose to call me names, chastise and parent me, and ultimately tell me it’s best I remove my thoughts. I needn’t go into my response, tho only my wife heard it said, but it lit a fire so strong in me that I refuse to ever be silenced again.

Say you’re watching a show on TV and you’re familiar with it and the way it’s written and directed but say one episode you can barely get through. It upsets you greatly. So what do you do? Do you contact the show runner and demand they remove the show from any future showings? Or do you simply change the channel while muttering to yourself that you hated that episode or one part about it or whatever?

I don’t and won’t ever say things simply to get a reaction. I am not that idiot. My wife just got this T-shirt for me yesterday as a Christmas gift.

This is as true as it gets with me and I wish others were similarly blatant. If something I say is disturbing or upsetting, comment and let me know how and why it impacted you so much but in a mature and calm way, otherwise I feel like I needn’t be in a pissing match and will refrain from slipping to those levels.

I let you talk, so simply let me do the same. This gist of what I needed to express is all here in black and white but try not to write me off if I have more to say on the subject down the road. It’s near and dear to my heart and I will not be silenced.