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The Most Important Woman In My Life |
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Such a
concept this is. The most important woman in my life.
It
is the 16 year old county girl who gave birth to me, fed me, and loved
me despite everything against her. She gave me life – a debt repaid
only by giving it to another. This
uneducated county girl was loving, honest, and good hearted. But the
same girl (I don’t think she became a woman until I was grown) in her
complete and total subjugation to any type of patriarchal authority –
taught me to have a mind of my own – to think for myself and to tell
the truth about that. And the truth of it is that she never, ever wanted
to teach me that.
Yet
it could be so many other women. Women who turn their back on you as
soon as a man enters the picture. These women have taught me to take
care of myself. The scared-of-their shadow women who I worked with at
Wal-Mart in East Texas. And the one who believed that working there was
the ultimate dream job. Those women taught me to work through
desperation to the other side, who ultimately helped me decide to leave
that crazy place in my life, and make it on my own. Sometimes,
a woman teaches you not to trust anyone but yourself – an ex-mother-in
law who helped her son steal my not quite 2 year old child out of my
arms on an icy day in January (I got her back). I cannot fail to tribute the women authors who changed my life for good when I was looking for the answers – Gloria Steinem, Barbara Mor, Monica Sjoo, Barbara Walker, Demetra George, and Riane Eisler, to mention a few. Or the women who run the New Beginnings Center in Garland, or the women who helped me find food, clothing, and a job when I left a nightmare of a marriage and returned to Dallas with 2 kids to take care of - $10.00 in my pocket, and a dress to look for job in. My oldest son’s girlfriend who gave me $100 toward a deposit on an apartment (out of her earnings as a part time waitress). The women who befriended me in that godforsaken – run-down-government-subsidized-housing apartment complex. The loan officer who worked with me exhaustively to obtain the loan on the house I now live in. The instructors in my first course in Women’s Studies at TWU. These women taught me hope, understanding, and courage. My
daughters are the most important women in my life. They will lead the
world – the time has come. It
could be me. I look in my daughters eyes, and I see that it is so. I
look in the mirror, and I see that it is so. Every
woman I have ever met has been - and is - the most important woman in my
life. The way women need each other to depend on, and the response
given, decides the way the world will be and the future of life on this
planet. “Be the change you want to see” – to paraphrase Gandhi. You are the most important woman in my life. I am the most important woman in your life. We must collectively decide what we will do with this awesome power, you and I. Amy Green |