Princess’s POV

As the self-preclaimed princess of The Ant Colony, it feels important to share my potential biases. I grew up upper middle class, white, and religious like many people in the South. My viewpoint on this administration/sociecomonic situation we are in currently is very tainted from this upbringing. I was extremely sheltered and religious while growing up, which led to a lot of rigid thinking that did not benefit my mental health. As I got older it truly made me reconsider how this thinking affected my world view.

While I was growing up as a Christian there were simplistic viewpoints of good and evil. My mother was the one who pushed religion as it was how she was brought up. It helped give something to blame when things went wrong, which in turn worsened her mental health as well. Maybe its bipolar or maybe it's the devil tempting you into sin? Everything was either for God or against him and his teachings. Since all sin weighed the exact same, every sin felt like I was committing a murder. It created a cycle of imperfection, shame, and then strict self discipline to attempt perfection once again. This is where the anxiety began while growing into my young teen years. I would feel temptation, peer pressure, and self doubt that led to what 'God' called a sin. The self doubt only compounded my anxiety since everything I felt was the 'right choice' had a downside. Everything has a 'good' and 'evil' to it and as a Christian you want to avoid the 'evil' at all cost. Standards and ethics were already decided for me by 'God' so I didn't need to set my own, when it came to this morality. Life only got harder when I needed to interpret situations that the Bible didn't write clear instructions on how to handle. I say 'God' not the be disrespectful to any Christians who might be reading, but because I don't think this is your God. I don't think Yahew would command his followers of free will, to ignore all responsibility for their actions unto others.

This cycle of redemption only grew stronger as my father got more involved in his government work. The government came through and gave instructions for everything the Bible didn't cover. When you are an impressionable young girl with religious ideology, it makes it easy to be obedient to who has power. Power religiously, economically, and socially all lied within a government who claimed to make laws based on my idea of 'God'. I grew up with the idea that everyone looks to us to act as a high standard since we are known by our family name. We had to be an example of obedience in church, school, and life because God and the government demanded it. Anything outside perfect obedience is considered misbehavior, even if morally they are doing nothing wrong. Anyone else hear the phrase, 'children should be seen and not heard.' their entire life? At a young age where your parents are superheros, in a small town where everyone knows them, and your teachers are friends with your mother; all misbehavior gets back to your parents. Forget being scared of big government, I was scared of Big Brother inside my own home.

This living situation as well as religious upbringing made it an easy jump for me to want to run from an authoritarian government. My anxiety bells went off and still go off at every emergency news ping from UVOTN. For a very long time it was hard to understand why nobody else was so ready to run, because the danger felt so close. I grew up with the monster in my house so I already felt like I couldn't beat it. Now with ICE raids and roundups, forces the danger is only closer to home.

Growing up I used to be able to blindly believe what my family told about the world. I could have full faith because the danger was so local, it was being handled by heroes I knew. When I raised concerns in the past, it was easier to get information from my family. I could ask about traffic stops or arrests and be regaled with how my family "stopped the bad guy". When I complained about politicians I didn't enjoy, it was easier to joke with my family. I got to sit around and hear stories of politicians from their glory days, you may not find on News Channel 5. This normalized the 'us vs them' and helped to draw me deeper into the security of blind obedience in exchange for safety and security. This blind obedience benefits capitalism, governmental bodies, and those who manipulate religion. While my family may not have been intentionally doing these things, the effects were real nonetheless.

In a traditional cookie cutter viewpoint of human relationships in attachment to capitalism: Women are influenced by religion and government to wait for the "right man" and let him lead; Men are influenced by the government to have blind obedience to their country or job. This seems the easiest way to have citizens who follow blind obedience to them. This is simplified to extremes and is a viewpoint that my life reflected for a very long time.

Once I understood how this upbringing affected my mental health and world views. I decided it was clear a switch was needed to better my life. This decision was my own and I think every person can do just the same. Nobody will do it until the rigidity of their own thinking forces some flexibility because one can not exist without the other. My story is not unique in the sense that many have gone through the same rethinking. It is not indoctrination, brain washing, or propaganda. It is simply the respect, appreciation, and love for your fellow man.This is not leftist lunacy, it is just protection and appreciation for everyone. We hope this story of change helps Andy Ogle’s office, next time they need an insult for their citizens.