Take Back the Night!

I must say that this week was pretty awesome. Besides having a chemistry test and a lot of assignments to do, I would have to say, this week ended well. One of the highlights of my week was on Thursday, when I decided to attend "Take Back the Night," a rally and march for women against violence, in honor of Morgan Harrington. I must say, even though I live like 30-45 minutes away from Washington D.C, I never knew how a march or a "Protest" felt like. Like all people who are a part of the stereotype, at first, I thought "Oh great, crazy protesters! I can't believe I am doing this!" I must say, I never would have decided to march if it wasn't an assignment for the women's studies class that I am taking. However, I am so glad I went. It started with a ceremony where we had speakers that talk about organizations that help prevent the violence of women in our community. There were people who shared their personal stories with us and the stories were absolutely heartbreaking. I even shed a few tears while listening to them. (I know, don't laugh, I am a sucker for these things.)Then, we all lit candles, chanted, and walked around campus and downtown to raise awareness of this issue. It was funny seeing people look out their dorm windows and stuff. Its funny because I use to be one of those people as well. I would be like, "What is happening?" being so curious as to why so many people are yelling outside. But now, since the tables are turned, I got to experience this in the perspective of the people who are actually affected by this. I felt very lucky and blessed to be living life with no burdens and tragedies. When I was walking, I definitely felt like the typical "college" students that always protest on T.V. Now I know what they mean when the younger generations have the power to make change in our world. I wish more people are aware of these issues. Not just the issue of violence against women, but many other issues that are really tragic as well. A lot of people don't know that women often times get sexually abused and raped. Even some of my friends asked me, "What? Theres violence against women? I never heard of that." This shows that our society needs to be more aware and involved in learning about these issues.