Blog #2
Dr.
Hicks’s piece had an over all profound message. She wrote about her experience
as a soldier, a female soldier and her story is entirely her own. Of course,
this seems like a pretty blatant statement but it’s so much deeper than that.
The military experience is one that many people can say they were a part of but
we often forget that though the women and men that serve in the armed forces
share this overall experience, they don’t share the same story. Yes, these
soldiers and vets were or are a part of this greater unit of people; but the
way that they experienced it was and is completely unique.
Going
in deeper with that idea, the individual, as Dr. Hicks explained, has to get
her audience to see them amongst a sea of layers that keep the people on the
outside from seeing and acknowledging the truth and story of the individual.
Now, soldier is an experience that involves many. Female soldier, that includes
fewer individuals but it is still a group of individuals and is seen as such.
Amanda Hicks, that’s who the audience was meant to see, not soldier or even
female soldier. How frustrating that must be, to feel like you’re drowning in a
sea of labels and stereotypes so deep that you don’t feel like you are being
seen and heard as the individual that you are.
This
is a strong woman, she doesn’t complain. Instead she writes boldly with the
message that says, here I am! Among all of these layers, here I am at the core.
She doesn’t filter it, she says it out-front in the abstract, this is my story,
it is my own, and written in a way that you may not understand because this
experience doesn’t belong to you. How often do we come across writers that so
fearlessly put themselves out there? We live in a world that wants you to
filter everything so that everything looks fine and is presented in a carefully
polished package that everyone can read and most can relate to. This piece,
this short narrative, serves as a reminder that you don’t have to be ashamed of
your experience and you don’t have to try and alter it and present it in a way
that no one is left confused. It’s ok if people read your story and are left
bewildered. Let them be bewildered! You don’t owe it to anyone to explain your
story.
I
found a short video in the world of YouTube called 5 Hardest Things About Being
a Female Marine by Sarah Wagner; I’ll link her video below. I enjoyed the video
because it wasn’t exactly what I expected it to be. Initially I thought she had
made a video that was going to tell her audience what all female marines experience
in only six and a half minutes. I was happily wrong. Yes, she did include some
all-encompassing kind of ideas in her video but the part that I loved was that
she included her own story, Sarah’s story, in the video. She explained some of
her experience along with the corresponding how and why aspects of her
narrative. I liked that she was talking about what she went through, and would
add disclaimers explaining that this isn’t and won’t be your experience exactly
because it was her own and she was sharing it. It’s just so vital to not get
lost in labels and all-inclusive terms because underneath all of that are
individuals that are completely unique from on another and understand that even
though they share a similar involvement, they experienced it differently. It’s
alright if you don’t understand what someone is saying all the time or can’t
relate, what matters is that you have the ability to listen and be ok even if
you don’t totally get it.
·
5
Hardest Things About Being a Female Marine link:
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