International Women's Day

All through my life i have had a deep respect and empathy for Women. So much so that in my teens i was filled with trepidation about dating and otherwise being involved with girls because i was afraid that i would fail and inadvertantly disrespect them, or (emotionally) hurt them in someway. I knew it wouldn't be a purposeful act, but since i had grown to rightly see that relationships are emotionally complicated, i had no confidence in my abilities to navigate the affairs, so to speak. I was extremely naive, but the last thing i wanted to do was to hurt a girl. Clearly i was a sensitive little guy.

I was quite sure, however, that i would never physically hurt a woman. As a child, I was witness to many abuses toward my Mother by her second husband. At an early age i decided that i would never become a man who could, or would, abuse a woman. It was an idea that i quite literally kept with me in all of my interactions with girls (and Women). And although it stunted my emotional growth a bit, making me a so-called late-bloomer, i would not change a thing if it meant turning out differently. Those early experiences informed my attitudes in positive ways, even if they were formed from negative ones.

As much as i have deep respect for Women, i have the opposite feeling for Men. I believe that Men are responsible for all of the ills and evil in our world. It all started when Men co-opted religion from Goddess worship and placed themselves in power. Since then, Women have not had power, and so they can't be said to have contributed to the many horrific decisions that have been made throughout history, and have shaped the battered, bruised and confused world in which we live.

This isn't meant to ignore that many men have made good, or even great, decisions in history, but in general Men have been led by greed and lust for power, and domination over the their world. This has created a world of disharmony, inequity, and of course the perpetuation of greed and lust. Look at the powerful churches today as an example of the still backward attitudes toward Women that have been perpetuated. There is sign of change, but there is also a long way to go toward real enlightenment.

Unenlightened people try to argue that Women can't handle political power because they are unable to make the "hard decisions". I think that if Women had been in control from the beginning, there would be many less hard decisions to make. If Goddess worship hadn't been wiped out by frightened little men, we might live in a better, more sorted out and equitable world altogether.

Of course, Women who may take office now would be inheriting a world already messed up for millennia by Men. But that is no reason not to vote Women into office. There is no sensible reason not to do so.