Clear Sight

 

 

Do you see me clearly? Where are you looking? Is it me you are seeing, or your idea of who I should be? Does the color of my Iris or the size of my waist determine my value in your eyes? Should we criticize some one who says she is blonde….even though she doesn’t say it is coming out of a box? If I have a large home or great job…am I then good enough for you? If my only warmth on a winter night is a trash can fire….does that make me “LESS” than you? Are you incapable of seeing what is beneath the layers? Are you unwilling to believe that all that I am cannot be found on a page? Why do we deceive ourselves into believing that we know all there is to know? How many times do you walk past the homeless person on the street, without ever wondering who they really are? Are they just homeless….or is there more? Would you be surprised to know that once he was productive, but life was unkind to him…and he is now subject to ridicule due to our inability to see outside of the proverbial box? Is he just a bum looking for the rest of us to support him, or is he more rich in character than you or I ever would be? How many times a day do you fool yourself into believing that “it would never happen to you”. How many times have you pointed the judgmental finger without even being HUMANE enough to ask WHY? If you lost everything, had no where to turn…would you then be so willing to judge him? How often do you rush past a person on a street…never making eye contact…because they have a “certain look”? Do you clinch your purse, out of fear and ignorance? Do you really believe that because you have a larger bank account that you are richer than some one who possesses less? How long will we continue to believe our own “stories’? When will we stop thinking because RIGHT NOW we have it all…that one day God won’t strip us of our worldly possessions to show us who REALLY is in control? Never say never…because YOU are not in the drivers seat. You never know what you would do, given different circumstances. Stop thinking that bad things only happen to bad people. Start seeing people clearly…and in order to do that you must see yourself clearly. Be honest, with yourself and stop believing that anyone one on this Earth owes you anything. Give Praise daily, and open your heart to those who haven’t seen compassion in a while. Spread Joy, and Love…it will always come back to you with a large dividend…..I’m just sayin.

Marked By Misogyny

Marked by Misogyny

Misogyny.

  This particular topic…I have pondered for close to a month now. It is an issue which of course affects me personally. But for those that didn’t know, or weren’t aware…misogyny is hate of women. Now I realize that this blog will cause people to stir and grumble about it. That actually is the point, and recently I realized that unless you shine light on issues…people will behave like it isn’t even there. And as I have learned when talking about injustices due to race, religious beliefs and bigotry, as a whole, people would rather it not be discussed. But since I am a woman…and it affects me directly, I am not willing to wish it away.

  There will be some people that will say that I am wrong, or that I am making something out of nothing…however, since it is hate against an entire group of people it does warrant an educated discussion.

  Women are often the scale in which manhood is decided…for instance, “you throw like a girl”, along with other various other names that men or boys are called that refer to a female or her body parts…used to demean and isolate boys or men.

  Why is it socially acceptable for women to wear garment usually termed “masculine”, such as jeans or pants…yet when a man or boy want to dress in attire termed “feminine” he is ridiculed? Why is a girl being called a “tomboy” acceptable but a boy being called girl-like…or anything similar, but not as kind…is an insult? Why is it that we make fun, or create jokes about males who are in the Ballet, nurses (instead of doctors), beauticians, or various other gender biased professions?

  I suppose that who ever started and carries on these ridiculous ideas about women…never really has a REAL woman in their life. And I say that because the strongest people I have ever known in my life…are all women.

  A woman was chosen to carry an embryo for 40 weeks and give birth to a baby weighing usually around 7-8 pounds. Why do we go to our mothers when it feels like the world is crashing down around our ears? I know men, who I find extremely masculine, that lean on their mothers when the world has gotten too heavy. How many men do you know that look for someone they can count on when seeking a wife? Would you feel like you could count on some one weaker than you?

  Let us not confuse compassion, and kindness for weakness. They are not the same thing. There have been women throughout history that have broken through barriers created by their male counterparts…which I can assure you makes them anything but weak:

1910 Alice Stebbins Wells became the first police officer in the United States…she joined the L.A.P.D.

Early 1800’s Molly Williams became the first female firefighter in the United States…coincidentally…she was also the first African-American female firefighter also.

1870 Esther Morris became the first female judge in the United States.

1917 Loretta Walsh was the first woman to enlist in the military; she joined the United States Navy.

1995 Lt. Kelly Flinn became the first female B-52 Bomber Pilot.

1849 Dr Elizabeth Blackwell became the first woman to graduate from medical school.

  The female pioneers broke through some thoroughly masculine career fields…I can assure you it was not an easy task. And I am certain that like most things, they were heavily scrutinized in their every move. However it did not stop them from making the way for other great women in history and our lives.

  So the next time that you consider the weaker of the sexes…perhaps you should remember…just because you might say it… doesn’t make it so.

  It is true that women did not choose to carry children, we were created that way…but I have never spoken to a man that said he could withstand all that birthing a child entails. Remember when we are belittling the women in our society…that mean YOUR mom, YOUR grandmother, and YOUR daughter…do you really think she is the weaker sex?

 

Where Does Your Heart Lie

Where Does Your Heart Lie

 

  I was looking at photographs the other day, of homeless or underprivileged children. The photographer was trying to create awareness, and attention to this ongoing problem in our world. He was smart enough to know that people tend to be more sympathetic towards small children and any suffering they may go through, as opposed to any other age group. And, as was the expected effect, I was saddened, beyond words.

 However today, it had me thinking a little deeper, into the state of the human condition. The pictures I saw were moving. It led me to think about something I saw once about homeless people living under a bridge. No one was taking pictures of these people, except to draw attention to what an eye sore they were. It bothered people, who were DRIVING past to go to their air conditioned offices, to have to see someone in that state. The people were not asking for money, they weren’t even asking for food…they had signs asking for a job. They didn’t want a handout; they wanted to EARN their own way. But instead, they got a petition started about them, because people driving passed didn’t want to feel bad about driving past them. Imagine…they wanted to feel good, so they had to NOT eliminate the problem, but to not have to SEE the problem. I suppose it would be different if I said this was happening in another country, because we tend to only care about those causes when it is politically correct, and we are expected to care. How many opportunities does God have to give us, to show love to others? Would it have been more difficult for those people to drive past a 5 year old living under the bridge?  Where is our compassion? What has happened to our hearts? Why have we gone cold? Are we ever thinking that the man under the bridge may be trying to find work for a family, which depends on him, everyday? And all we gave him was a slap on the hand, saying “looking at you reminds me that I am not doing what God meant for me to do”. I’m not saying that the people who drove past were bad people, just that they weren’t showing compassion and love to one of God’s creatures…and don’t we know by now that we are supposed to love one another?

 Of course, the real problem is that we never put ourselves into any one else’s shoes. We never think about how hard life must be for that person, or his family. We never think about how humbling it must be to have to stand under a bridge all day long asking some one to give us a chance to earn our own way. There are people in this country that think it is embarrassing to not have 250 cable channels, or to get a cell phone turned off for non-payment; never mind having to carry a sign under a bridge. And we think God is looking down on us, smiling?

 We are so quick to pass judgment on people, and there appearance or circumstances. We REALLY believe it could never be us. We need to remember, most likely, that man wasn’t born homeless. Things happen, people lose jobs, homes, and cars…the thing that make us feel that we are better than the next person. How long would you feel this way, if you were trying to support a family…with the wrong LOOK? Never mind not having a car, or the only car you have is the one your family lives out of. Do you know that if a homeless person lives out of their car, that the state will take away their children? And instead of helping…we judge; saying things like people “like that” shouldn’t have children. We all are victims of circumstance…just because you believe you have it all doesn’t mean anything…that “belief” is an illusion.

 What lessons are we teaching our children? Remember the most important lessons, are the ones NOT spoken…but observed. Why do we only see homeless or hungry children on the commercials asking for money? Because those organizations know that we, as people, think that an adult…could have made better decisions. It is my deepest hope for mankind…that God DOESN’T know the intentions of all of our hearts.

 The important thing to remember is this…it is a new day. We can wake up today, and decide to do the right thing.