Stumbled Upon Wisdom

It's funny how one surfs the internet looking for one thing and then by happenstance, if you believe in that sort of idea, that I stumbled upon a rare find. Not rare in the instance that it is uncommon, but rare that something is filled with insight and wisdom. The name of the book is Gender, Religion, and Family Law: Theorizing Conflicts Between Women's Rights and Cultural Traditions, edited by Lisa Fishbayne Joffe and Sylvia Neil. By no means do I know these two editors, however, Amazon has their book for sale and it allows you to peruse the book before you purchase it.

With all of this being said, as I was reading through the introduction of the book, I stumbled upon a passage from the book, and it reads like this.\" Women's symbolic association with the notion of tradition may be enhanced because women play an important role in creating cultural continuity through their roles as mothers who reproduce and educate a new generation. Given these deep and pervasive associations, initiatives to change the women's status under religious or customary law may be perceived as threats not only entrenched power relations with the group, but also to the very possibility of perpetuating a shared set of social practices and the shared narrative of identity that justifies it.\" These two sentences caused me to pause and really reflect on what is being said. Before I begin to write the next statements, let me make these clarifications...
1. I believe in a structured society that is just and fair to all. 2. I believe in the institution of marriage and family. 3. I know that we are who we are because of our cultural norms, relatives, parents, siblings, and situations that we have lived through that all have a direct impact on our ways of being and doing. NOW, that this is all out.. I can continue.

As I stated before, these two sentences caused me to pause, and mull over what is really being said. In essence, women have more power than we realize, and it is not in the shape of our hips or how many children we can bear, or who our mothers and peers say we are. Rather, it is who we want to be, and how much we are willing to endure for the dream that is etched across our hearts. We symbolize far more than we can imagine. We are a mystery, and we carry a unique quality about ourselves that can only be reproduced by us and through the children we carry in our wombs, and for those of us who are not biological mothers, but still mother and nurture other people's children, we are wise beyond our years. Once someone calls us mother, something in us rises up and we know how to do the miraculous with very little.

We are the embodiment of power!!! If one woman is educated she educates all the generations that come from her. Just think about a pebble that is skipped in the water, and look at all the ripples that one rock makes. Its the same analogy. One woman makes many ripples by using her voice to reshape, laws, and traditional norms. It is the voice of women banded together that control economies. Look at all the women in the market place who buy and sell....There is power in number. If women really banded together on one common idea and stood firm, because it is something that she wants,,, Change will come... Even if by force. Who said that we can't have it all... Who said so? And if within yourself you hear yourself say... They Said.. Then I challenge you to go and inspect the lives of they sayers and if their lives look appetizing to you then by all means listen to what they said. But if you go and look at the they sayers and their lives, meaning quality is not better than yours, then dig deep and LIVE FOR WHAT YOU WANT!!!!