Thursday, July 24, 2008

finding truth

I might be considered a feminist, but I have never applied that term to myself. It's something that I've never quite understood because I've always considered myself a human being first, before any other label. Not woman, not white, not disabled. Just Breda - who was born in a body not of her own choosing. Just like everyone else.

That someone could be, or should be, treated differently because of something like their gender has never made sense to me. Like trying to pound a square peg into a round hole, the idea simply will not fit in my brain. Oh, I understand that there are natural limits to my abilities. For instance, I don't have great upper body strength, have trouble writing my name in the snow, will probably never take up jogging, and can't reach the top shelf without a step stool. But aside from physical limitations that are beyond my control, the fact that I am a woman should have no bearing on what I can, or at least on what I attempt, to do.

Learning to shoot has made me stronger and more sure. I have said, more than once, that in this past year of my life I have become more fully myself. It's a process that has become a passion. I pack up my gear, head to the range and in the solitude of my lane, pick up my pistol and transcend all barriers of gender, age, race and disability. I have seen so much diversity at the range, so much openness and camaraderie among those that would probably never even exchange a hello in any other situation. Guns really are terrific equalizers. They make us realize that we are all just people - fingers on triggers, a breath between silence and noise.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...

Huzzah, and well said!

^_^

Earl said...

Watching your mind again, thanks. I always think it reduces the importance of the person to lump them under a group name. To note the differences isn't bad, but to use that to add texture to the name shared (so I don't forget it next time we meet!). And I salute what you do for women and shooting sports there is so much more you share, take care out there and go gently...

Tam said...

"Guns really are terrific equalizers. They make us realize that we are all just people - fingers on triggers, a breath between silence and noise"

Oh, nicely phrased! :)

Carteach said...

Poetic.... and well said.
Good word smithing.

Robert Langham said...

It's an absolutely wonderful life.

You and Big Mike ought to gird up your loins and drive your ox and haul your ass over to Camp Perry. Tell him you want to buy two boxes of black paster and one box of white pasters for your pistol targets at Champions Shooters Supply on Commercial Row!

Thanks for your wonderful blogging, by the way. You're a blessing to the blogosphere!

Anonymous said...

http://www.ocala.com/article/20080711/NEWS/807110356

Because the fact that one 5'3" woman can repel two 6' men is truly the hallmark of civilization.

Jay G said...

Excellent. Simply excellent.

We're all carbon-based life forms. Differentiating beyond that is pointless, and serves only to keep the hoi polloi squabbling amongst themselves.

Anonymous said...

Link didn't come out! Putting it in two parts:

http://www.ocala.com/article
/20080711/NEWS/807110356

Anonymous said...

I couldn't have said it better myself.

Well... actually I probably could since I have a penis and you don't.

Everyone needs a laugh.

phlegmfatale said...

Here's to one of the few truly level playing fields in human edeavour!

Brandon said...

What a terrific post! You put that all so very eloquently, and I wish every gun-control advocate would (or could) read it with an open mind.

Pretty Pistolera said...

"That someone could be, or should be, treated differently because of something like their gender has never made sense to me."


This has never made sense to me, either. Very well said, Breda!

Anonymous said...

Most "isms" devalue individual human beings and suborn them to the group identity.

Mike W. said...

Most "isms" devalue individual human beings and suborn them to the group identity.


Except for individualism.

Anonymous said...

Well, Mike, I did say most. In fact, the one "ism" I had in mind as an exception was capitalism, since it is based upon individual economic rights.

But capitalism isn't a system of belief any more than is individualism, it doesn't demand that one surrender to a group identity.

Anonymous said...

"Guns really are terrific equalizers."

Why does the lioness go after the slowest and weakest wilderbeast rather that go after the biggest and strongest with the most meat on its bones?

If wilderbeasts wore clothing, how would the lioness know who had a concealed carry permit and who didn't?

Criminals are predators. They operate on the same principles.

d smith kaich jones said...

I'm female - I own a gun (just one's all I need) & I've shot guns, but not in a long while. I'm thinking it's time to get educated about it & learn to be easy with it.

Great post.

Debi

dr mac said...

Very eloquent. It took me several years of espousing the same ideas to my wife before she finally believed it. Maybe if I had your gift of prose it would have been a shorter time.

Thanks.

TexasFred said...

No guns, no peace...

Know guns, know peace!

Keep on shooting, bullets are cheap, life is not, and to those that don't shoot, you may not understand this, but shooting leaves me with a really peaceful and relaxed feeling, and a ton of confidence...

Borepatch said...

Random Acts of Patriotism has a must read about why women should learn to shoot. Great post, heartbreaking story.

http://randomactsofpatriotism.blogspot.com/2008/07/remembering-petits.html

I hope I'm not breaking blogpost etiquette with this, but it's the red-ink underlining for Breda's post.

I have *got* to convince the Mrs. to go to the range.

Julie said...

well said ... my thoughts entirely ... reminds me, i need to get out on the range again!

Anonymous said...

Breda says it best!

http://doubletapper.blogspot.com/2008/07/breda-fallacy-finding-truth.html



DoubleTapper
DoubleTapper@gmail.com
DoubleTapper, blogging on Guns Politics Defense from Israel

Anonymous said...

One minor nit. "Gender" is an attribute of a word, or is a psychological "identity". Sex is a biological differentaition based on chromosomal information.

It's the grammarian demon in me that get's annoyed when people nowadays always say "gender" when they mean "sex" presumably because they are afraid of the word "Sex".