Harder Times Require Furious Dancing

Grand Mothers
We have to live differently
Or we will die
In the same old ways
Therefore
I call on all the Grand Mothers
Everywhere on the planet
To rise and take your place
In the leadership of the world.
Come out of the kitchen
Out of the fields
Out of the beauty parlours
Out of the television
Step forward and assume
The role for which you were
Created
To lead humanity
To health, happiness
And sanity.
I call on all the
Grand Mothers of the earth
And every person
Who possesses the
 Grand Mother Spirit
Of respect  for life  and
Protection of the young
to rise and lead
The life of the species
Depends on it
& I call on all men of Earth
To gracefully
And gratefully
Stand aside
& let them
(let us) do so.

Alice Walker –  Hard Times Require Furious Dancing

My Sisters! Young and old!

“Hard Times Require Furious Dancing”

 I think it’s time that we, as a collective of sisterhood, do some serious dancing!

I believe that we should begin by questioning and placing under the spotlight a couple of dangerous narratives.  More importantly we need to square up to the evils of patriarchy. I am curious about something, I am sure that a lot of women folk out there feel the same way.  Why are men so terrified of women?  I am generalising, I know!  Please explain to me why there is a need to verbally and physically, beat (some of us) into submission by insisting on obedience and subservience.  Why?

I know I am treading on dangerous ground here, however the time has come for us to have this difficult conversation.  Far too many girls and women are hurt, maimed, beaten beyond recognition, raped and murdered on a daily basis. 

Grand Mothers rise up!

We need to encourage our daughters, sisters and girlfriends to raise boys to believe that their emotions and feelings matter, and that” cowboys” feel pain and cry.  That girls and women have equal rights, that nurturing children, housework, cooking and cleaning is a joint responsibility. 

Oh yes, a pet hate – don’t buy that cute pink kitchen set for your daughter or granddaughter and the tool set for boys.

Let’s challenge consumerism that buys into the lie that only girls are nurturers and that a hammer and a chisel is only for boys, as is the doctors play set.  While we are about it let’s do away with that cute little nurses outfit clearly aimed at girls.  Pfffft!

Now, hear me out, I know that this is going to sound a bit contentious, so be it.

I was most certainly not created from Adams rib, therefore implying that I am less, should think differently, act and feel differently.

Grand Mothers rise up! We need to say this loud and clear.

In as much as we constitutionally have autonomy over our bodies, please don’t tell us how to think, dress, act or behave.

I follow a humble Carpenter or at least I try to.

He surrounded Himself with women, He discussed and shared His message of love, of welcoming the stranger, inviting someone for a meal – someone who was really hungry, alone and afraid, or maybe even desperately ill or even in prison.  Not once did He tell women to be submissive, or that they were second class, or even inferior.  Oh yes, and before I forget, when that humble man was dying, it was women who stayed by his side, who tenderly wanted to anoint his body with oil and to whom it was said:  “Go and tell”.

Grand Mothers rise up!

Read to your children, boys and girls alike, stories that celebrate and empower. Like Forgotten Fairy Tales of Brave and Brilliant Girls”

Kate Pankhurst a distant relative of Emmeline states in the Foreword to this wonderful book.

“I firmly believe that stories have magical powers.  (How fitting with a fairy tale does that sound? But it’s definitely true!)

Stories can enchant our imaginations and shape our view of the world; they can even make us think differently about ourselves.

If I think back, the girls I read about in fairy stories did spend a LOT of time hanging around in towers, waiting to be rescued.  They also spent much of the story in a bewitched sleep, waiting for a prince to arrive”.

She goes on further to say:

“The stories you are about to read are different: the actions of our heroines better reflect the world we live in, who you are and who you will become.   I hope that they inspire you to be brave and brilliant, and to question anyone who says you are anything else.”

Reflecting on this post, and reminiscing about this, that and life in general.  I remembered a Black Sash slogan “A Woman’s place is in the struggle”.

Grand Mothers rise up!

Our rightful place is alongside men as equal partners is in the boardroom, at home, on the sports field and wherever you may find us.

Please stop being afraid of us.

In dedication to everyone, male and female, who works tirelessly towards justice and freedom for all people.

Luciano Pavarotti was scheduled to sing Nessun Dorma at the 1998 Grammy Awards in New York, just before the ceremony he informed the organizers that he would be unable to perform. Aretha Franklin the Queen of Soul saved the day.

Stay warm, dry and safe!