My Voice Was Never the Problem
By Kristi Cruise There are moments in life when something buried for decades suddenly rises to the surface with clarity you can’t un-see it. You can’t unknow it. You can’t go back to the version of yourself who didn’t understand. I had one of those moments recently. This revelation cracked open a lifelong pattern and illuminated the truth underneath it: My voice was never the danger. The adults around me just couldn’t hold it. For most of my life, I believed the opposite. I thought I caused the chaos. I thought my words were too sharp, too honest, too destabilizing. But now I see: I wasn’t unsafe because I spoke. I was unsafe because the people I spoke to weren’t regulated enough to receive it. This single truth is reshaping everything. Two moments in my life — separated by decades — mirrored each other in a way I can’t ignore. In both moments: • I spoke an (unpopular) truth I felt obligated to say. • The adult on the receiving end r...