Wednesday, May 16, 2012

IF YOU HAVEN'T GOT ANYTHING GOOD TO SAY...COME SIT BY ME!!



I recently attended an event made up by a diverse group of young women. As is my usual, I was the oldest cow there and maybe that was why it was all so awe inspiring. These women were Christians, non-Christian, stay at home moms and professional women. Their purpose for being there was to be ignited into being ' ALL they could be'.......for Jesus. It was a call to let down their guards with one another and just be genuine, raw and real. To feel safe in a circle, a sisterhood, of women who just wanted to lift each other up and encourage one another. I was awed I think because when I was a young stay at home mom it was long before the inventor of social networking was even a babe in arms. Mine was a generation of hoping for the best when facing the challenges of parenthood and marriage. There were a few books out there to read but I don't remember reading them. And as I took it all in last night all I could think was how scary. How completely intimidating to answer a call to let your true self be known to a peer group of strangers.

At 57, what you see is what you get with me now. In fact you may very well get more than you wanted as any filters as well as established boundaries have corroded away with the years along with firm upper arms and eyes that could see. I digress.


If I have a point it is this: Women are scary. 

We can be vindictive, jealous,backstabbing, judgmental, critical, harsh and we are capable of making gossip an art form. I was recently online shopping for hair cut pictures ( don't hyperventilate Gena, I didn't find any). I happened across a young woman from our area who became a star in Hollywood. There were lots of pictures of her cute hair and I happened to catch an article that pictured her in a bikini with a headline that said something about how great she still looked in a bikini. After the article there were 41 comments. Every single one was not just negative but excruciatingly hateful and mean. These were not comments by women who knew her personally, just mean girls who felt entitled to their opinions. I don't know why it affected me so deeply but it sickened me. It seems like it is just who we have become as a culture.


Awhile back Starbucks had quotes by famous people printed on their cups. I kept one thumbtacked to my office bulletin board for the longest time. It was a quote by Madeline Albright that read:

"There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women."

It was truly a breath of fresh air last night, to see intelligent young women allowing themselves to be vulnerable, approachable and genuine. I pray it will spread like a contagious epidemic. Join me for a moment in my happy place where the sky is always blue and cellulite cannot exist, and picture with me what the world could look like if we made a personal commitment as women to build one another up in place of tearing each other apart.


Please, just do as I say, not as I've done


Cindy... I am the official EMG, AKA: Earth Monkey G-ma. I've earned this title more by default than performance. I am a 55 year old mother of 5 and gramma to 9 and my greatest achievements are my kids. We are a blended family kind of like the Brady Bunch... if you can picture the Brady's with knives. While I'm far too quick with unsolicited advice, I'm a fairly good example of "Do as I say, not as I did."Check out Cindy's personal blog at:www.sawasquirrel.blogspot.com
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