Stay in Your Lane?
Sorry, Mr. Butker, but our collective consciousness is leaving you in the dust
Warning: Rant ahead filled with a touch of feminist preaching, inspiration, and poking fun at the phrase “Stay in your lane.”
A few days ago, my daughter called from college and said, “Moooom … did you hear what that stupid football player said?”
“Oh no, now what?” I asked.
“You aren’t going to believe it,” she promised, and within seconds, a few links pinged on the phone. She was right.
In case you haven’t heard, Harrison Butker, 28, the placekicker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League, delivered the commencement address at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
While shocked and slightly saddened by his words, I’m not the least bit worried. OK, I may be a little worried, but I live in a hopeful world where people everywhere are committed to evolving and rejecting systems of superiority.
You, my faithful readers, also know I profess: “Be nice and have fun.” In this case, the nice part was not so easy, but I decided to have a little fun and respond with clips of a few of my favorite quotes and things I watched, read, and heard in the past couple of days. It’s a bit of a call and response, in the spirit of “cento” which is a poetic form composed entirely of lines from poems by other poems (Latin for “patchwork). A few caveats:
I love and respect so many Catholics in my life; this is not meant to criticize the religion or their choice of spirituality.
A remarkable woman is any woman who lives her life the way she chooses ~ on her terms. I say hallelujah if that choice is wife, mother, and in service to the Church, as long as it’s not because her father, husband, or priest insisted. That being said, I learned long ago about the Paradox of Choice: Why More is Less, and that if happiness is the goal, too many choices don’t always lead to the end zone. For me personally, though, choice has always been better than the alternative.
The words of Harrison Butker are in bold italics:
The chaos of the world is … motivated by fear …
"To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best, night and day, to make you everybody else, means to fight the hardest battle which any human being can fight; and never stop fighting." ~~~e.e. cummings
As men, we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction, and chaos set in.
Cultures of superiority prevent everyone from reaching their full potential.
It is you, the women, who have had the most diabolical lies told to you … in the complete surrender of self and a turning towards Christ, you will find happiness.
“We always have a choice – to not be controlled by what others think we should do or expect of us, but to live in greater self-empowerment true to our natures." ~~~Lyn Dalebout ~ poet, astronomical astrologer, biologist~~~
You are entering into mission territory in a post-God world, but you were made for this.
Baby boy,
I think I've been too good of a girl
Did all the extra credit,
then got graded on a curve
I think it's time to teach some lessons
~~~Taylor Swift ~ Bejeweled~~~
The world around us says that we should keep our beliefs to ourselves whenever they go against the tyranny of diversity, equity, and inclusion …
“they” are pushing dangerous gender ideologies onto the youth of America.
So I bite my thumb at the preacher who told my
twelve-year-old-self
that I was going to hell for playing basketball
in short pants and short hair
with boys.
~~~ Jesus Was a Feminist ~ Robin Merrill~~~
Degenerate cultural values in media, all stem from the pervasiveness of disorder.
somewhere inside the delicate skin of my body, there pumps an 8-pound female horse heart, giant with power, heavy with blood. Don’t you want to believe it? Don’t you want to lift my shirt and see the huge beating genius machine that thinks, no, it knows, it’s going to come in first. ~~~How to Triumph Like a Girl ~ Ada Limón~~~
Familiarity breeds contempt
And when I meet the band They ask, "Do you have a man?" I can still say, "I don't remember" Familiarity breeds contempt Don't put me in the basement ~~~Taylor Swift ~ Bejeweled~~~
Life truly started when she [Butker’s wife] began living her vocation as a wife and as a mother.
And I know I can’t change your mind. You will keep telling women to obey their abusive husbands and every time you do, you will push a woman further away from her higher power. ~~~ Jesus Was a Feminist ~ Robin Merrill~~~
You are entering into mission territory in a post-God world, but you were made for this.
“By implying a woman’s true fulfillment comes from not working and instead, supporting her husband and children (even if it means giving up her own dreams), he [Butker] belies why he really wants women in the home. It’s not because he’s thinking of the women’s needs. It’s because it makes men’s lives easier.” ~~~Jo-Ann Finkelstein, Ph.D.~author of Sexism & Sensibility [from Huffington Post]
Disregard the outside noise and move closer and closer to God's will … Speak openly and honestly about who we are and where we all want to go, which is Heaven.
I am the Pheonix that rises up I do not own you - You are free to be the child you were meant to be. I am deep beneath your heart a beating drum A work of art. ~~~Sita Daavettila ~ Spiritual Coach ~~~
When you embrace tradition, success — worldly and spiritual — will follow
“I dare Harrison Butker to tell Taylor Swift she has no value unless she is a wife, mother, and homemaker” ~ one user on X ~
Bad leaders who don't stay in their lane can have a negative impact on society
Note: This clip is from high schooler Cecilia Barton’s speech for Governor in Girls State, a new documentary on Apple TV. "A political coming-of-age story and a stirring reimagination of what it means to govern, Girls State follows young women from wildly different backgrounds across Missouri as they navigate an immersive experiment to build a government from the ground up"
I'm selfish. I'm selfish because I have to be. We all have to be. Women in America aren't given respect.
As a lifeguard, I have been told by middle-aged men, "Cecilia, you should smile." I've been told by 12-year-old boys that I have an attitude and even here, Girls State, a place that is meant to empower women, our bodies are policed.
We are told that our shorts are too short and our tops are too scandalous. We are shamed for having bodies with curves. And as your governor, I will not let this stand.
I am proud that when I smile, it is because I am happy and not because a man told me to. I am proud that I do my job diligently and I am proud that my personality is not limited by a man's definition of what a woman should be.
And standing in front of this crowd today, this crowd of future leaders, I can say with certainty that the future is female.
Iron sharpens iron.
God can save the world,
women will save America.
~~~Cecilia Barton~Girls State~~~
Harrison Butker, 28, the placekicker for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League, delivered the commencement address at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, on Saturday, May 11, 2024.
If you are moved, here’s the Change.org petition: Demand the Kansas City Chiefs to Dismiss Harrison Butker for Discriminatory Remarks
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I busted attended Avery’s graduation from UVM and noticed the number of women graduating and receiving honors. When I checked discover UVM’s undergraduate population is 61 percent female, 39 percent male (apparently at this point nonbinary students are not tracked). I also discovered this ratio reflects a national trend. Harrison Burke is clueless.
Another well written piece Sue. Butker is clearly driven by fear and loathing versus true Christian principles. In either event, his message hasn’t resonated in the least. Quite the opposite. Clearly.