I think everyone makes a choice, consciously or not, about whether they will live authentically. We decide whether we will stand for what we believe in, or whether we will hide. 

It's not an easy choice to make, because there are consequences for speaking up. You can't come out of it unscathed. You have to be harder on yourself, because others will be harder on you - they will ask, who is this person to speak up, to have a stance? 

There are no easy answers, too. But speaking up doesn't obligate you to come up with the solution. I think the solution to difficult problems, 'wicked problems', requires everyone's effort. We have to move together towards a better way, towards positive change. 

And does it matter? Speaking up for what you believe in - whether it's every human's right to care, or women's rights to equal pay and opportunities? I think it does. Our voice matters more than we think. And it matters to me, too, that I stood for it. It matters to me.