To She Who Persists

[babylonsister]

http://johnpavlovitz.com/2017/02/10/to-she-who-persists/

To She Who Persists
February 10, 2017 / John Pavlovitz

She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.
– A small, scared man named Mitch

Senator Elizabeth Warren was not the first like her to stand where she stood this week, she was simply the latest.

She was yet another in the near infinite chain of strong, intelligent, capable women, having to shout to be heard above the hissing, frantic noise of insecure men in her midst, all desperate to silence her. She was both making history and yet sadly repeating it.

snip//

The irony of a woman being silenced by men while speaking the words of another woman ( and one of color) was thick in that room—especially given the staggering misogyny of our new President and the fact that the majority of Americans had chosen a woman named Hillary over him to lead us in these days. I grieved over the nation we could be working toward and the lessons my daughter could be learning, while being reminded that women have been pushing back and pulling us forward for a long time now—and they haven’t needed permission or blessing. Maybe that is the real lesson.

Cleopatra, Joan of Arc, Marie Currie, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Susan B. Anthony, Emily Dickenson, Hellen Keller, Eleanor Roosevelt, Amelia Earhart, Harriet Tubman, Rosa Parks, Mother Teresa, Katharine Hepburn, Frida Kahlo, Billie Holiday, Gloria Steinem, Billie Jean King, Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowling, Bree Newsome, Malala Yousafzai, Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Sally Yates… The glorious parade of persistence marches on.

They persist in marriages where their true voices are not yet fully embraced.
They persist in dusty churches still reluctant to make space for their gifts.
They persist in workplaces still overpopulated by men threatened by their presence.
They persist in places on the planet where they are seen and treated as less-than.
They persist despite a million reasons not to, after being given a warning and an explanation—and knowing these things are not good enough reason to stop.

After watching Elizabeth Warren make her brave stand on the floor of the Senate, I walked into my daughter’s room and looked at her engulfed in a swirling pile of blankets and stuffed animals. I pushed her hair back from her face and smiled. I pray that she will grow to be such a woman; a woman who will not be shouted down or tamed or defined by anyone. I pray that she will find her voice and that she will use it in whatever way her furiously wild heart compels her too.

And I know that when she does, she too will face the cowards and the bullies and the choruses of insecure men (and sometimes even a voice inside her head) telling her she needs to be quiet and sit down and not cause trouble.

And I hope when that happens, she will stand defiantly undeterred and with dignity; warning and explanation be damned—and she will persist.

[guillaumeb]

1. Recommended.

Lump in throat.

[WePurrsevere]

2. This is wonderful. One of best out of many of his that have been. nt

Last edited Fri Feb 10, 2017, 07:58 PM - Edit history (1)