{"id":24774,"date":"2022-06-29T21:29:25","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T01:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/?p=24774"},"modified":"2022-08-28T17:42:45","modified_gmt":"2022-08-28T21:42:45","slug":"the-right-to-choose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/the-right-to-choose\/","title":{"rendered":"The Right to Choose"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uua.org\/offices\/people\/elizabeth-mount\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>By Elizabeth Mount<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>To begin, to start, to create, to undertake,<br \/>\nTo grow, to promise, to increase, to generate.<br \/>\nAll these are our birthright.<br \/>\nAs we are created, so may we create.<\/p>\n<p>The ability and the choice to create is sacred.<br \/>\nTo withdraw that chance from any person without their permission<br \/>\nWould be a violent act, the cutting off of life itself.<\/p>\n<p>A single powerful red-orange flame glows in the darkness around it.<br \/>\nAnd yet, as precious is the right to simply not.<br \/>\nTo end, to terminate, to stop, to discontinue,<br \/>\nTo rest, to hibernate, to impede, to prevent.<br \/>\nThese, too, are our birthright.<\/p>\n<p>For without consent, our ability to create<br \/>\nbecomes not a blessing, but a burden and an imposition.<br \/>\nWithout space for a \u201cno,\u201d there can be no trustworthy \u201cyes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today, we come to this holy place and time,<br \/>\nReady to invoke the divine, to make space for the sacred,<br \/>\nTo co-create community once again.<br \/>\nThis too is a choice,<br \/>\nyou cannot, you may not,<br \/>\nbe coerced into relationship with the holy or with one another.<br \/>\nI invite you, I ask you to join us.<br \/>\nI respect it if you will not, today, or ever.<\/p>\n<p>More sacred than any other individual need, is Choice,<br \/>\nThe right to know oneself.<br \/>\nThe right to know what you are ready for, what you need,<br \/>\nto stretch when you can,<br \/>\nto pause when you will,<br \/>\nto know your body, your mind, your spirit better than anyone else.<br \/>\nAnd ultimately,<\/p>\n<p>to be trusted with the responsibility of your own living.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Elizabeth Mount To begin, to start, to create, to undertake, To grow, to promise, to increase, to generate. All these are our birthright. As we are created, so may we create. The ability and the choice to create is sacred. To withdraw that chance from any person without their permission Would be a violent &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/the-right-to-choose\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Right to Choose<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1313],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24774"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24775,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24774\/revisions\/24775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}