Dear Mr. President Persecutor,
You don’t know what it’s like.
You don't know what it's like to fill up a gas tank. You don’t know what it's like to buy a carton of eggs. You don’t know what it's like to go hiking in a national park or on a road trip across the United States.
You don’t know what it's like to work at an elementary school. You don’t know how to teach a child how to read or count change for their piggy bank. You don’t know what it's like to protect a child, to pray that they make it back from elementary school alive. You don’t know how to explain to a child what a lockdown drill is, or worse, harbor them in the case of an active shooter. You don’t know what it's like to be the reason children have a future.
You don’t know what it's like to work for a small business. You don’t know what it's like to own a small business. You don’t know what it's like to work for minimum wage (for more than 15 minutes). You don’t know what it's like to have multiple part-time jobs to sustain yourself. You don’t know what it's like to work for a workers’ union. You don’t know what it's like not to have healthcare benefits through your job. You don't know what it's like to be in medical debt because you didn’t want to die. You don’t know what it's like to rather die than be in debt.
You don’t know what it's like to apply to college. You don’t know what it's like to get accepted into college and not be able to afford it. You don’t know what it's like to attend a public institution, or have parents who work for one. You don’t know what it's like for your federal aid to be denied. You don’t know what it's like to have your federal aid taken away from you. You don’t know what it's like for your internship to be defunded. You don’t know what it's like for your research to be defunded. You don’t know what it's like to have to drop out of school because you can’t afford it.
You don’t know what it’s like to celebrate the 4th of July in the backyard of your family members’ house. You don’t know what it's like to hear the sound of firecrackers and be afraid that it's a gunshot. You don’t know what it's like to have immigrant family members who came to the U.S. with nothing but the clothes on their backs. You don’t know what it’s like to chase the American Dream. To chase a better life. You don’t know how difficult it is to go through the naturalization process. I bet you can’t even answer the questions on the test. You don’t know what it's like not to be able to afford a naturalization test. You don’t know what it's like to be forcefully separated from your family, your children, your life.
You don’t know what it's like to train for the military. You don’t know what it's like getting up at 4 a.m. to run drills. You don’t know what it's like to fight in a war, to be deployed. You don’t know what it's like to experience war firsthand, with your own eyes. You don’t know what it's like to lose the people close to you because of war. You don’t know what it's like to be a veteran. You don’t know what it's like to be a refugee. You don’t know what it's like to watch everything you've ever known disappear from existence in a year.
You don’t know what it's like to be a woman. You don’t know what it's like to be catcalled outside your own house. You don’t know what it's like to be followed home. You don’t know what it's like to be raped. You don’t know what it's like to pray for a pregnancy test to come back negative. You don’t know what it's like to be on birth control, and for it to fail. You don’t know what it's like to be on hold with Planned Parenthood. You don’t know what it's like to get an abortion. You don’t know what it's like to carry a child. You don’t know what it's like to give up a child for adoption, a child who is a piece of you. You don’t know what it's like to have a miscarriage. You don’t know what it's like to be convicted of murder due to a miscarriage.
You don’t know what it's like to die of COVID-19. You don’t know what it's like to have a family member die of COVID-19. You don’t know what it's like to be unvaccinated. You don’t know what it's like to have a family member die because they were unvaccinated. You don’t know what it's like for your newborn baby to get sick because they are unvaccinated. You don’t know what it’s like not to have enough medical research to cure your illness.
You don’t know what it's like to feel uncomfortable in your own skin. You don’t know what it's like to be someone you're not. You don’t know what it's like to be discriminated against. You don’t know what it's like to be told that you can’t love someone, that it's wrong to love someone.
You don’t know how to peacefully protest. You don’t know how to be accepting of others. You don’t know what it's like to be scared for your future. You don’t know what it's like to be enraged by the state of your country, a country that once promised a better life for all.
And maybe I don’t know all of these things. Maybe I am just a girl from the suburbs of Pennsylvania, but there are people who know these things. Americans know these things. And there is one thing for sure that I know and you don’t. I know empathy.
With empathy and no respect,
Giulia Mauro
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