What are Women For?

Women have been, forever, seen as the source of fertility. We go forth, are fruitful and multiply, not only by the work of our bodies, but also by the work of our brains. For too many years, our wisdom and wit has been put in submission to those not carrying the burdens of everyday caring for the universe. We have huge stores of stories to tell.

It saddens me when I see an old mother in her last years believing she has nothing left to offer the living. The living often don't think that history has any bearing on their present or their future, but they have not understood the value of knowing the past.

Firstly, human needs are very few; we must have food clothing, shelter, and belonging to survive. Too many in industrialized nations are growing up weak in body and in mind because they have substituted technology for all individual effort, including the need to form physical communities.

The other issue facing our earth is the belief that we have ready fixes for all that goes wrong. Much of what goes wrong is already in our histories. The elderly are the storehouses for these cautionary tales.

As women sit by the bedsides of those who are passing on the last of their live's energies to others, we have been the recipients of the wisdom of the ages. I like to believe that we can all gain by holding those who are dying and passing on the spirits that they no longer need. It is now time for females to pass on the wisdom and wit of the ages.

I am now writing the story of a 93 year old Appalachian mother, with her help. I hope she will see her continued worth in getting her empowering story into print. She is still healthy in mind, though her body is failing. How much could our healthcare system save if we simply honored the elderly?