Women Against Women?
When I read this some 30 years ago, I went looking for just such a complement to my own being. Many men paid lip service to what I was I was seeking but not one of them really understood because they were too busy being “the male”. As well, I was too
For someone who has not created any legislation concerning anything particularly economic financial issues, Bernie Sanders is "talking… and only talking"… about what he'd like to see happen. He has been in the congress many years and has never proposed anything in terms of how he sees a more equal America. We have all heard the "if elected President" proposals of the candidates. He has had many chances in his years in congress to show some of that grit. Nada. What was the big line in Jerry McGuire? “Show me the money.” And by money, I mean, "Bernie, show me actions you've taken that tells me you know what you are talking about?" I think he means well. I hope he does. But I want someone who really does know what SHE is talking about. And yes even if she has to make the political compromises that everyone has to make (Bernie and his gun control) she really does have the domestic and international experience necessary in this globalized planet we live in now to make more considered and knowledgeable choices. She did a pretty fantastic job as Secretary of State. And she did it as a woman in a man's world. You bet she had to make compromises. What woman doesn't? But in the political arena it's not only a man's world, it's a women who forget they are women's world. And I for one know she is NOT one of them. I understand so well why the ERA was defeated by women. We are and always have been our own worst enemy. Maybe it has something to do with our being second class citizens for so long.
Her armor comes to her honestly because from the get-go of her years in the White House to the present day she is still being battered. And when I see it is women doing the battering, it drives me crazy. Because she stayed with the man she loves? And make no mistake honey, with all his zits and warts. She does love him.
Rilke wrote the passage below as part of a series of letters in a book called, Letters to a Young Poet and this particular letter was written in 1904.
In this one, he expresses the hopes I have for men and women in the future. It is very relevant to this election for me because if we ever needed a female in the White House it is now…and we have one who is qualified…not just qualified, but really qualified.
The girl and the woman in their own new unfolding will only temporarily be imitators of male incivilities, of men’s ways, and repeaters of men’s careers. After the insecurity of this transition has passed, it will be shown that women, through their wealth of (often ridiculous) disguises and many changes, have continued their quest only in order to purify their own beings of the distorting influences of the other sex. The woman, within whom life dwells in a more direct, fruitful, and trusting way, must, after all, have become basically more mature, more human than the man. For he is easily pulled down by the weight of the lack of physical fruitfulness, pulled down under the surface of life; he professes to love that which he arrogantly and rashly underrates.
The simple humanity of woman, brought about through pain and abasement, shall then come to light when the convention of her ultra-feminism will have been stripped off, transforming her status in the world. The men, who today cannot yet feel it coming, shall be surprised and defeated by it.
…It shall not bring to mind complement or limitation – only life and being: the feminine human being.
…It shall thoroughly change the love experience… between man and woman. …it shall resemble that love… which will be comprised of two lonelinesses protecting one another, setting limits, and acknowledging one another. When I read this some 30 years ago, I went looking for just such a complement to my own being. Many men paid lip service to what I was I was seeking but not one of them really understood because they were too busy being “the male”. As well, I was too busy being “the female” that was expected.
All to say this struggle is ongoing. My own such experience is mirrored in the title of my show, Everything Old is New Again. The Sermon is ended… on The Mount.
Love ~ Sally-Jane
P.S. You don’t have to agree with me, even though I am right. I will love you anyway.