Don’t Assume. Listen.

Don’t assume I’m going to sting you. Don’t assume anything about my nature. Don’t assume I’m soft and fuzzy. Don’t assume I’m making you honey. Don’t assume I am industrious. Don’t assume I’m in it for the love affair. Don’t assume I need your chemicals. Don’t assume you know better about myself than I do. Don’t assume I do not hear you because I am only a bee.⠀
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Don’t assume I’m naive. Don’t assume I don’t know about sting. Don’t assume I know less because I’m a hobbyist. Don’t assume I know less because I don’t turn a profit off their honey. Don’t assume I am going to give you answers because you demand them. Don’t assume I am going to withhold honey because I am a feminist. Don’t assume I am in it for the love affair. Don’t assume I am not. Don’t assume I know less because I’m a woman. ⠀
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Don’t assume you are the poison in my waters. Don’t assume I can not hear your prayers. Don’t assume patriarchy is the enemy. Don’t assume it’s outside yourself. Don’t assume it does not damage you, even as you benefit from it. Don’t assume it is too late for me. Don’t assume it is too late for you. Don’t assume you know what is best for me. Don’t assume you are the only species that can save me. Don’t assume you can not. Don’t assume you are somehow separate from me. Don’t assume you cant hear my voice, because I am the Earth and you are me.⠀