Get lost you bl**k b*stard. B*tch. Being a woman, especially in a country where the only exotic people known were from Greenland, wasn't easy at all for my mother.
Particularly since she came from nearly the opposite side of the globe. And no, she wasn't inebriated. She had an education, a job, a driver's license, a handle on finances, me and my sister's education, well-being, yet still possessed the surplus to care for others beyond just herself and our family.
As a child, I recall with a knot in my stomach overhearing my mother whispering to my father about her experiences when she thought I wasn't listening. What people had shouted at her on the street.
As a child, I couldn't fathom where my mother drew her energy from. She never gave up.
As a child, I thought it brave that my mother never bowed her head.
My maternal grandfather was executed three months before my mother was born. For ideological reasons, allegedly. It haunted my mother like a specter until the day she died. But on the surface, she acted as though growing up without a father was entirely normal. Unfortunately, she never got to visit his grave, which the Dutch erected in his memory. I'll do that one day.
Today, in an era of global economy, education for all, at least in our part of the world, free access to news, running water, and electricity in sockets, we're surrounded by so many battles of values that many people refuse to engage, are bewildered by the rebellion when we're so safe and comfortable....
Statements like: What's next? It's too much. I don't care. I can't take anymore.
Try to imagine a world without battles of values.
Can you?
What you don't feel is your battle is someone else's. A struggle you may not come to comprehend. That doesn't mean it's worthless. I'm not a woman (though some people sometimes mistake it based on my first name), but leaning on one of the greatest pillars in my life, my mother, I understand perfectly well what today signifies.
Happy International Women's Day ❤️
#IWD #fredagstanker #fridayreflections #DEI
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5moWhat a treasure of a story - sometimes the world speaks to us with profound messages in ways you least expect it to. Thank you for this share Michael Federle and what a tragic and yet beautiful and inspiring story Sara Blakely.