Planting Our Stories

A very wise person once asked me whether I thought gender-based violence was actually the manifestation of man’s subconscious desire to commit mass suicide. To wipe out all of humanity by exterminating the very source of human life. If we could take a snapshot of the globe as it is at this very moment, that’s precisely how it would appear. We are living in the midst of a world-wide war that is ridding our planet of its mothers. This is the most expansive and enduring genocide that has ever existed in history. Immeasurable violence radiates out from where we are, covering every bit of space and every moment in time, past, present, and future.

How deeply humanity must be suffering. How sore, and sick, and wounded our united soul must be to desire complete and utter self-annihilation.

If the roots of a plant are destroyed, watering that plant won’t keep it alive. Some of us have been torn from our foundations with senseless destruction; others have been carefully clipped and placed in pretty pots. But all of us have been denied ownership, expression, and acceptance of our true feminine source. If you, like me, envision a future in which women don’t just survive but truly thrive, we must begin to fight this battle deep down in the soil of our communities, in the seeds of our families, and in the souls of ourselves. This is how thick feminine veins begin to dig life back into barren earth.

How strong my sisters must be. How resilient, how resourceful, how courageous women are to have resisted the systematic obliteration of our sex for this long.

Change will come. We will produce healthy loving babies and compassionate conscious communities. But WE must be the fearless creators of this dream. We must each be the artist, the landscaper, the composer of this vision because not one of us can speak from the roots of another. By using the talents with which we have been gifted, we will begin to retell the story of woman. We will replant her into the hearts of our gardens. And then we will hear the power of her true voice in our courts, in our bibles, and in our schools.

I say this with such certainty because over the past four weeks, I have been reading your stories, stories that have reached a depth of authenticity and courage that is so rare for women in our world. I say this with certainty because I have reread my own words on these pages. Words that seem almost too strong, too opinionated, too sure to be mine. Those words tell me that my experiences did really happen, that my thoughts are valid, that my voice has not been irrevocably silenced.

These journals are proof that our power lies within and that we need only discover our own creative ways of releasing it. Our stories will be the vehicles for unveiling the truth of our strength, for creating solidity in our foundation, and for nurturing confidence in our perspectives. My journey as a Voices of Our Future Correspondent is one through which I hope to gain the skills I need in order to grasp that discovery, to document that release, to archive that truth, and to contribute to the growth of healthier roots. Ones from which our daughters can never be torn.