Wednesday, January 03, 2007

Another Thought...

...on the Miss Celie's Blues post. Another two thoughts, really.

1) Women are WONDERFUL. Thanks for all the love and encouragement.

2) More of a rhetorical question than a thought really: In remembering how low my self-esteem and self-confidence has been at times, I thought, What happens to us? We aren't born feeling so low. My aunt has preserved a letter that I wrote her when I was five that contains the line, "Do you still think I'm a genius because I am." And my sister's mother-in-law laughs all the time and tells me how bubbly and conceited I was when I was young. Why is it so necessary that things like that be crushed and abused out of women?

But of course, I think I know the answer(s) already.

3 comments:

Gwyneth Bolton said...

Yep, Elle, I think you already know the answer to that one. The most important thing is that we need to continue to help sistes rediscover that strength so that we can all dare to be powerful.

Anonymous said...

I agree with Gwyneth, Elle. We need to support each other, as there are so many others out there who are more than happy to tear us down. For a few years, I facilitated writing workshops in battered women's shelters, and those women had been through so much, but they couldn't see how strong they were or how beautiful or how wonderful. But as women, we could come together-- and there's always so much POWER-- they could begin to remember their strength and beauty again.

Zan said...

Oh dear gods. The answer to that question could save the world. *sigh* I had the same thing, ya know. When I was a little girl, I was the most outgoing, happy, bubbly child. Everyone says so. Then, I hit puberty and that all stopped. Full on. *sigh*

I don't know why it gets beaten out of us. It's not fair and it does the whole world a disservice. *sigh*

Revelations and ruminations from one southern sistorian...