Scarlett Montgomery, 24, New Zealand
Where Have I Been? Where Are We Going?
Where have I been? I did not know that I was lost. I was led to believe that this was it. My life. My lot.
Just another lost soul in waiting - to disappear.
A psychiatrist gave me an excuse, a label, some proof. Depressed is how I am now to be addressed.
So he put another teenaged girl on Prozac, and the cure, always worse than the disease, was the very part that damaged me.
The adults, the teachers, protectors and chiefs all said that I was pathetic and weak, aiming just to attention seek.
They told each other I was just another emotional female.
I went to a church, afraid I was mad. They decided I was bad. They told me that the big man in the sky was disappointed with the devil inside, the darkness in my mind.
I confided in my family, my father asked me to leave. Turned out on the street at the age of sixteen. They didnt want this shame to cramp their style, so I lived in a halfway house for awhile.
I lived with women; broken and strong. I cried with angels, whod done every thing wrong. I talked to women; wise, un-afraid. I laughed with women; un-defined, straight, bi and gay.
Where are we going, these women like you and like me? Where are we needed? Where should we be?
With each other, together, stronger as one.
Only with love is the damage un-done.
Be where you are, who you are. Be there for a friend.
No money, no man is worth much in the end.
We are women, with stories, with sadness, with light. We are women all worthy, all welcome, all right.
