Strong Women

My grandmother was the daughter of a freed slave and a mixed race mother. She ran away to marry my grandfather when she was only 15. My mother was the babygirl of 3 older sisters. When my grandmother left North Carolina she only had an 8th grade education. That was all most women of color were permitted in the 1920’s , if even that. My grandfather worked 3 jobs to take care of his family while my grandmother was a house wife. She would prepare breakfast for her family of 9 then read the newspaper every morning.

Even as a little girl, my mother wanted desperately to attend college, but knew that her parents would never be able to afford it. So she took extra credits throughout high school to basically achieve a college level education for free. Eventually she was able to get an associates degree in business and several certifications as well, allowing her to move into a position of executive secretary for a huge firm in Pittsburgh. She was an extremely intelligent person with a desire to be more. She always wanted to become an attorney, but that dream was beyond her economic reach. My father had a PhD in economics. My parents valued higher education so not attending college was never an option for me. Therefore it was never an option for my daughter either. Knowledge is power and higher education is the key. I’m certain that my great grandmother could not read or write but she made sure that her daughters could. From that strength and determination came the desire , the passion if you will, that burns in my daughter. She is a cardiologist, the only black female cardiologist at UPMC by the way, and an award winning research scientist. She has 4 degrees and many certifications. The women in our family started with nothing more than some twigs and a rock. Sometimes that is all that you need.

I watch a lot of documentaries in my spare time. The desire to learn hasn’t left me and most likely won’t. I watch documentaries on many subjects. I like the majority of them including those about religions, spirituality and cults. I find those particularly fascinating. I actually took a course in school called the religions of man. There is a fantastic book by Huston Smith by that very title. There’s a theme that resonates throughout every documentary that I have watched about these religions and cults. That theme being the absolute necessity to suppress women in order to have their faith or organization survive. It’s disturbing. They keep the women uneducated and docile. They brainwash them and program them. They make it nearly impossible for people and especially women to leave it. It’s all based in fear. It doesn’t seem to matter the religion or the cult. Women are what has to be controlled. It makes me wonder why these so called spiritual men fear women and truly dislike women to such a huge degree. Perhaps they know the true power that all women have. They make the outside world , away from that environment and controlled life, seem so frightening that they would rather stay and be abused, beaten and raped. Why are women so scary to them when they keep professing their own superiority? Strong women already know that answer. These leaders know the answer as well .

I actually began writing this earlier this week . I had no idea what would transpire today. Today’s heart wrenching announcement only further validates my opinion. It drives home the fact of the matter more clearly than I can express.

So to all my strong ladies, even the ones that have not realized their strength, power and ferocity yet, stay fierce and fearless…we got this!

“And one day she discovered that she was fierce, and strong, and full of fire, and that not even she could hold herself back because her passion burned brighter than her fears.” – Mark Anthony

You already have your twigs. Go pick up a rock! Then light that fire and let that passion burn!!!