Reality Winner. An unusual name for a military veteran, but seems quite fitting somehow. Some people have heard of her, but many have not. Reality is the fit blonde, in her twenties, that allegedly released a document to the online media outlet, The Intercept, back in May 2017.

Out of the all people who know her name, there lies a division. If you believe yourself to be an ethical person, and someone with morals, yet you also believe that she broke the law so she’s where she needs to be, that Reality is guilty before her trial, or think her being charged under the Espionage Act is appropriate, then I’ll stop you right here. I have a separate message for you:

This post isn’t for you. If you choose to continue to read, please know that I will not approve any negative comments. I’m all for answering questions to the best of my ability, or at least directing you to someone who may know. And I’m always willing to engage in civil conversation with those that hold opposing views, but I do not tolerate incivility. It’s your choice whether you want to be civil. This is a personal narrative on Reality. With that said, whether you choose to continue to read or not, & whether you choose to be civil or not, is all on you. We’re all adults here, so let’s act it.

For the rest of us, I think it’s normal to feel like we want to make a difference at some point in our lives. Whether we decide to act on that desire is a decision based on three things:

How much we relate to want we think needs changing. How emotionally connected we are to that relationship. Opportunity.

I’ve always felt, for as long as I can remember, that I wanted to do something, even if the result was minuscule. The more I was able to change around me for the better, the more accomplished I felt about myself. Little things at work, like being part of the Safety Committee, or volunteering in my son’s Kindergarten class, began to become regular things for me. But when I sat back and reflected, I can’t say that it felt like it was enough.

I know that it’s important for people to feel like changing “the world for one person” is enough. And to know that it’s okay not to be able to “Change the world.” But you see, I’ve always been a jacktress of all trades, master of none. I always preformed really well at anything I did. Sports, music, academia, grunt work, art, math, writing… Whatever I do, I do it well, or at least am able to understand the why’s & how’s to what I’m doing to be proficient. But I’ve never been great. Never won first place, or got that big break. I’m just average.

Let me repeat that. I’m average. Just like you’re probably average. I’m not saying you’re plain, I don’t know, maybe you are, but average does not equal plain. We are all unique in our own ways. But we are not all above average.

So, I am average. How can an average person help something that’s so tremendously important to her, on a level that she can feel satisfied with her efforts as above average? How does she make a difference, so that more than just that one person will know at least a little more about this important issue?

How do I get first place at ending the oppression of women? How do I win at gender equality issues?

Feeling like the chauvinistic powers that be had taken over the world outside my walls, and feeling powerless to stop it, I read an article one day. In that article, Kerry Howely, of New York Magazine, spoke of this fit, little blonde, a decade my junior, that helped to prove Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US elections.

She served our country from age 18 through 24. She knew how to speak multiple languages, was tech savvy and very intelligent. But she also cared about people, and animals. She was passionate AND compassionate. And Reality always did, and continues to do, what she thinks is the right thing for the good of others. (She ultimately sacrificed her freedom for her fellow Americans and needs all the support she can get right now. She needs the help that she tried to give us in aiding to expose Russia’s hacking.)

Reality Winner had all three components necessary to act, in order to make a difference. She was working at a private intelligence company & being an American military veteran, her relationship to any person, any country, potentially hacking into the US elections was very strong. Reality Winner was trained to defend our country. Seeing our president dodge questions and BS his way through responses about Russia’s meddling was enough to kick that training into gear.

The day that our president, Donald Trump, fired James Comey and bragged that he shut down the “Russian Collusion Story,” Reality had finally had enough. Her emotional connection was enough to make a difference. So, the only thing left was opportunity. Did she have it? Yes, she had access to the classified document. And yes, she could, and allegedly did, mail a copy of that document to a reporter at The Intercept. But did she make a difference?

Reality was surprised by a group of ten armed, male FBI agents on her way home from grocery shopping, the very next day with a search warrant for her apartment, car & her person. It was technically reported as a noncustodial detainment so that they didn’t have to read her Miranda Rights to her. But Reality felt as though she was being detained. Period.

As the group of armed men searched & ransacked her house, two of the men kept pressuring her to speak with them. They gave her two options, to be interviewed in her apartment, or at the FBI office. When Reality took the obvious choice, her home, the two men led her to the unfinished back room of her apartment. Though the interview was “voluntary,” per these two agents, when she asked them, repeatedly, if she was being arrested, they refused to give her a direct answer.

Reality cooperated in any way she could. She moved her dog outside, handed over her keys to her car, provided all fire arms & proof they were legally owned, and provided assistance regarding her cell phone. As she cooperated with these ten armed men, she noticed one thing: there were no females.

In Reality’s own words:

From the moment law enforcement said they were with the FBI, and had a search warrant not only for my house and car, but also my person, I understood that I was not free to leave.

During the execution of the search warrant by eight of the armed, male FBI agents, the other two, that had led her to the small, unfinished back room, were continuing to pressure and tell her it would be worth her time to be interrogated. Reality had originally told the men that she didn’t want to use that back room because it felt “creepy” and “weird,” but they decided that was the best place anyway. She was never told, at any time, that she was free to leave, as the two men blocked the closed-door of the room:

… the agents told me they knew “a lot more,” than what they were telling me in their questioning, and “telling a lie to a FBI agent,” isn’t a good thing, stressing that this was my “opportunity” to tell the truth. Law enforcement then interrogated me about the whereabouts of a particular document, telling me that the document at issue had made its way outside of the building where I worked, and that “far and away,” I was the “most likely candidate,” as the culprit of their investigation. The agents told me that the evidenced they had was “compelling.” … After sharing this information with me, the agents told me that they thought I had, “just made a mistake,” that I had a “good career,” and that if I was the culprit and did it because of political reasons that would make them feel better that they didn’t “have a real serious problem.”

So, as Reality was cornered in a small, creepy, unfinished room with two armed, male FBI agents blocking the closed-door, while eight other armed, male FBI agents rummaged through her belongings, she continued to cooperate. She didn’t realize that she would soon be charged under the Espionage Act, and because of that, anything she said to those two men, under whatever they wanted to classify that detainment as, could, and would, be held against her in a court of law.

Now we get back to the question: Did Reality Winner make a difference in allegedly letting her fellow Americans know about a foreign country attacking our election system? Honestly, I believe that she has made a difference, but not in the only way that you might think.

When Reality Winner was arrested and charged under the Espionage Act for allegedly leaking a classified document, HER story was largely ignored. “First Leaker Charged Under the Trump Admin” with a brief description of her charges were about as much as the American people heard. People were confused by her name, saw she was charged under the Espionage Act, and made their decision: She’s a traitor that should be locked up.

The misogynistic Trump administration was doing a good job of silencing her. They would record any conversations Reality had with family or friends and twist her words in court for her pretrial bond hearing. They wouldn’t let her make a public statement and even booted NY Magazine reporter, Kerry Howely, six minutes into a visit, after she had gained enough of Reality’s trust to be put on her visitor list. However, Kerry was the one that helped gain attention to not only the treatment of Reality Winner, but also what was in the document that she allegedly leaked.

It was because of that article Kerry Howely wrote, “The World’s Biggest Terrorist Has a Pikachu Bedspread” that I, like many others like me, decided to look into more of the who, what, when, why, where, and how. And because of my own passion for equality and women’s rights, I began to see the case of Reality Winner a bit differently.

To me, especially when you take a look at everything that has gone on with members of the Trump administration to date, this is an ultimate case of a female, in the 21st century, being oppressed by an overly chauvinistic male society. Consider Mannafort or Gates. Or the sexual assault accusations, including some with Trump himself. Or the fact that this admin has knowingly and willingly employed domestic abusers.

This isn’t just a whistle-blower case, or a leaker case. This is also a case for equality and women’s rights. I now have the three components needed to make a difference, and that’s the difference Reality Winner made for me. I am finally going to win at something, and I thank her for her sacrifice that made that happen. We will resist. We will #FreeRealityWinner