As Trump and Vance scream at Zelensky, demanding gratitude and appreciation, I watch a pair of nesting bald eagles in California incubate their eggs. I stumbled on the live-feed on Facebook and ravenously watch the pair. Jackie, the female, is the primary incubator as Shadow, the male, delivers massive sticks, caught fish, or clutches of grass and nest lining material.

I am not ignorant or avoiding what is happening in the political realm. I read the original executive orders so that I might understand the specific language. I start with one resource and then move to the next, going as close as possible to the original language so that I might have as unbiased an understanding as possible. Unbiased is a loose word. I am rife with my political biases.

And I choose to watch a livefeed of nesting bald eagles because as the American government is slashed and burned (see…political bias) through shock and awe retribution, I watch Jackie roll her eggs before settling on them. I watch the eggs between her feet as circular cracks, like concave moon crevices, appear. And then those cracks become crevices and under the white translucent film is a fluttering movement. And then the crevice halves and the glistening chick, curled into what must be an uncomfortable ball of thin pink skin wrapped over bones emerges.

Birth.

I also watch and as as a new chapter of history births. And I fear these political births. I fear the website that encourages people to accuse teachers of teaching material that is considered….unpatriotic. And I wonder what that means.

Is teaching the Declaration of Independence unpatriotic? When Jefferson demands that the civillian masses should rise up when a despotic, tyranical government is seated, isn’t that the heart of patriotism? Isn’t it patriotic to teach the hues and shades of history? To recognize that flaws and mistakes of the past so that we will not be victims to our own flaws and mistakes?

I am no law student. My knowledge of American politics and government is thin. I have read chunks of the Constitution to try and understand what my rights versus my privileges are. Rights are guaranteed. Privileges can be stripped away.

For years, I have done my best to watch. Listen. Learn.

And now. I watch. Listen. Learn. And speak.

I am learning the nuances of my voice. Learning how to stretch my skin over my bones and feel the tendons flex and loosen. In my age, my anxiety, I found that silence was comforting.

Silence is damning. Silence is deadly.

And so my voice is birthed. Naked. Pink. Vulnerable. Prone to mistake making. Volatile. Nascent and afraid. Unafraid.

I’m tired of waiting. I will watch. Listen. Learn.

And then I will speak.