Tranquil feminists being uplifted by miraculous men

I first joined World Pulse last fall, when I moved to Portland, Oregon, the organization's headquarters, and was referred to the organization by a friend. Because of a (thankfully) busy work schedule, my interaction since then with this beautiful community has unfortunately been sparse. But during the sporadic intervals when I have time to read PulseWire and the journals of other World Pulse members, I have relished the opportunity to soak up as much wisdom as I possibly can from this group of voices.

Now, I am reading the journal entries from the My Story \"Miracles\" Series, and the same wonderful and profound reflection process is occurring within me. Women are taking times out of their lives to share stories about the miracles that have happened around them, and which, in most cases, they themselves have in some way helped to create. Besides the beauty of miracles, there is another thread, a very curious one, that links almost all of the stories I have read so far...

The surprising commonality between these stories is that of MEN being involved in each of these womens' miracles.

For some of these women, the Miracle Man is their partner/husband/love-of-their-life who has cradled and cared for them and given them the miracle of love. For others, he is a Mystery Man who has appeard once out-of-the-blue, performed some miracle for them, and then disappeared \"into-the-dark\".

The women reflect on the selfless good this man has done for them, and many of them call him their \"savior\".

I am intrigued by this: a group of empowered World Pulse women attributing the formative miracles of their lives to men.

On one hand, I am surprised and I become a bit defensive. Isn't it ironic that self-reliant, confident, capable women are turning over the power of such important moments to men? Why do they emphasize the acts of the man, without acknowledging the roles that they themselves had to play in bringing these miracles to be?

On the other hand, I find it fitting and even touching that these women speak to the fact that miracles, by their very definition, are larger than any of us, and remind us of our shared humanity beyond any distinction of sex/gender/race/nationality, etc.

Being neither religious nor a sociologist I cannot theoretically analyze what I have read today; but I am a human being who has been touched by reading about these phenomena -- both by the miracles that these women discuss, and by their descriptions of the men involved.

Today I am so glad to have read World Pulse because it reminds me to be thankful for my own miracles and for all the women AND men who have enlightened me.