“No one is useless in this world who lightens the burden of
anyone else.”
–Charles Dickens.
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| http://www.vday.org/node/3001 |
From 7-9pm last night, I sat mesmerized into the eyes of EveEnsler and her two companions from the Congo. Those were two of the most poignant hours of my week.
Her words vibrated in my ear drums.
The pitch of her voice made my stomach and heart coil
together.
“If you destroy the woman, you destroy the community.”
I will never forget those words.
Eve Ensler read us the letters from the woman who watched
their communities be torn apart before their eyes. She spoke the voices of the
woman: the mothers, the grandmothers, the sisters, the daughters, who were
mutilated.
Who are mutilated.
The women in the Congo who are, right now, being mutilated.
You listen to the stories, but you want to stick your fingers
in your ears as you did as a child when your parents were telling you something
you just couldn’t bare to listen to.
You feel the pain, so your organs pull in and away, coiling
together to try to comfort themselves.
Well- feel it.
Feel the pain. Be informed.
This is our reality.
When you destroy the woman, you destroy the community.
And, so, here we stand blindly, and let the world
self-destruct.
Eve Ensler spoke the voices of the women in the Congo, but I
heard the voices of my friends in El Salvador.
They, too, turn their backs when their husbands cheated,
beat, lied, or left.
They, too, teach their boys to be men and their girls to be
women.
They, too, carry the weight of their community on their
shoulders.
Eve Ensler read to us the responses from the women of the
Congo when she asked them “What can we do for you? What can we give you? What
do you need?”
Eve Ensler told us what they said:
We don’t want your weapons. We don’t want
your international aid.
We are strong. We have what it takes
to rebuild our community.
But outsiders have come in and put a gun to these defenseless
souls and these passionate hearts.
It is what I saw for myself in El Salvador.
The best people to change a community are the people in the
community.
Those same defenseless hearts have found resurrection in
destruction.
They still see the beauty of their country where hell has
crept over.
The people who have all the power are the women.
.......So empower them! Hear their voice!.....
.......So empower them! Hear their voice!.....
...Yet, we let the world demean, and abuse and strip them of
their intrinsic power… and strength… and beauty.
Hear their voices. Listen to their stories. Feel their pain.
Be informed.
When you destroy a woman, you destroy the community.
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