Summertime Sadness and Chimay

As much as the summer and my days off are filling me with gratitude and an all round sense of contentment, the sunny skies don't mean that life is suddenly all fine and dandy. Crappy shit still happens, boy does it. I don't know if you have been following the Trayvon Martin case, but it reached its conclusion yesterday and it did not leave me feeling very satisfied. I'm not going to write a lot about this, because I don't think I have a lot to add to the conversation, but I'd like to make this one point: the jury that ruled in favor of Zimmerman was 100% female, and with one exception Caucasian. Sadly, it seems as if these women felt Caucasian first and female second. 

This might strike you as an odd remark, but I really wish that every disenfranchised group would finally realize that we are all in this together, and that we would all benefit from sticking up for each other. Respect goes a very, very long way indeed. Women as a group of targeted, ignored, stereotyped and violated individuals should have common ground with people of colour, or the LGBTQ community. At least that is how I feel, personally. But in reality most people seem to act from fear, from a place of "well if that person is being targeted, at least I'm in the clear". Or from the sentiment that "I've fought very hard to get where I am today, so that person should fight at least as hard as I did". And that sentiment, my friend, gets us nowhere. I can't say this often enough: love, understanding and respect really are the road to salvation. Especially in a most definitely non post-racial-society. Of course I don't know all the ins and outs of the Trayvon Martin case (the stand-your-ground-law and gun legislation are to blame for this at least as much as racism if you ask me), but this is a point that deserves being made either way.

This is a nice video that illustrates the role of intersectionality in cases like these.

And all of that goes on, day in day out, while we live the shiny happy people life. Not a bad thing to keep in mind while browsing lifestyle/fashion blog posts, now and then. Like this one, where I share some snapshots of the roadtrip I made with my boyfriend yesterday, all the way to the beautiful Chimay in Wallonia, the south of Belgium.

 Roadtrippin!

 A two-hour car ride becomes a lot more bearable when you have views like these.

 Picnic on a sunny slope upon arrival! We made a tuna-lentil salad (divine), some sandwiches and fruity nibbles.

That grassy bit between the trees is where we had our picnic.

Just around the bend was a stone quarry with a lake at the end, sun warmed water perfect for swimming. Our part of the country, Flanders, doesn't have anything close to this stunning scenery.

I guess this blog post was very bittersweet - like life itself. Sorry to be a Debby Downer yo! Feel free to use the comment section to vent about anything. Sharing is caring.