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Thursday, March 15, 2012

Women's History Month... Light For The Mind, Warmth For Soul

Wind and snow and rain... all those high experiences of living in the Northwest when I just want to crawl back into bed and drift off into I feel warm and I do not have to get out there where I end up shaking and trying, oh so very hard, to keep my umbrella from being blown out of my freezing right hand.
But I live on the hill at Bellarmine High School, where faculty, staff, family members work very, very hard to support the young women and men who go to school here leave home, come up the hill, and hit those books.
I am so glad I live here because, just like so many other private and public schools here in Pierce County, folks are taking care of business, working hard so that our day to day lives can be healthy and happy.
I got out of that bed and headed for the Orell Library, named after the wonderful man who helped to make sure that the students would have access to a beautiful, comfortable space where they could work together, read and write and begin to appreciate the hopes and hurts of our world.
Let me say this one more time: "I am so pleased that young women and men have so many wonderful books to read than I did. I had a great education but I came up during those beautiful hard years when women and people of color were silent witnesses to our every changing country. So many men and women worked so hard to get us to this point but there would be a few more years that had to pass before their accomplishments, sorrows and joys would be celebrated."
So I am shouting out loud and clear because I want to affirm the existence of our sisters:
who continue to dedicate themselves to loving and serving other human beings in our country
all over the world... truly we are the benefactors of generations of people who cried and prayed and worked their way through life so that you and I can continue to make of this world a good place for all

1 comment:

Mizu Sugimura said...

If you should be able to take the trip from Bellarmine to Seattle's International District tomorrow - I'd be delighted to catch you at my Family Day artist appearance at the WING (Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience) where I'm saluting not only Women but today's little girls who are on their way to becoming the women of tommorrow.

My artist offering for the day attempts to generate some thinking on how we socialize the next generation of females in our culture - asking "What does a day for girl's mean to you?"

We'll look at the long-history behind the former Japanese tradition of "Girl's Day" which dates back over a thousand years and follow how this tradition changed and developed over the years until today when it has taken a back seat (along with "Boy's Day") to something called "Children's Day."

While we here in the United States have never had something quite like "Girl's Day" in Japan, I'm not sure if current society has given as much thought to what specific and intentional messages we are passing along to both girls and boys in our society about what we would like them to reflect upon as desireable qualities when they assume their roles as grown womern and men.

It seems to me that a culture or society that is not paying attention to what outcomes they wish to see, has even less influence much less control over what outcomes they will eventually reap.

While some segments of society are debating beginning and end of life issues - and have no fear of dictating their world view to persons who don't choose to join their social, political and or faith communities, thoughtful discourse in my opinion on what comes inbetween those anchor points especially amongst the greater population of humanity appears not to figure into anyone's bottom line.