Standing on the shore, the current pulls at me, the winds push at me, and the sands are shifting beneath my feet.
I am the foundation of Life and the bedrock of this Earth. The forces upon it cannot move me.
I stand or go as I will – not at the whims of others.
The battle is on as the women rage and the men quail, and both genders demand their rights to be equal. With false benevolence the powers that claim to be grant those who have been down-trodden the gift of ‘equality’.
The question is - What are we becoming equal to? Each perspective gives a different definition to the concept of 'equal-ness'. How can we equalize the uniqueness of the individual?
Do you truly believe that the ‘dominant white male’ is free to do as he pleases? Of course – so long as he stays within the confines of his opulent prison. The women he exploits, giving them what is his to give, live within the confines of his limitations, and all can be withheld and withdrawn should she not please him well.
He in turn, is subject to her tyranny. Should she become displeased with his offerings, she knows how to make him suffer. The velvet prison in which she holds him can become a steel trap. Now he is caught in a societal vice that has no mercy. Forced from above and coerced from beneath.
Men are the Gate-keepers in this system but in many ways, they are the most enslaved. While they have their clout and their brawn, one of the tasks assigned them is to make sure women are kept in their place. This is perhaps the most difficult thing that a man has ever had to do.
Men know how to create and destroy, but they have no idea what a woman’s true role is, and since they have been tasked to keep them under control, they can only give and take in the fashion they understand.
Since women have largely forgotten what their role is, they find it difficult to communicate with men who only know enslavement, and creation thru destruction. There are times when screaming in rage may be the only way to get the man’s attention, but continuing to scream and then demanding he stay on his knees once you have his attention is not the way.
Being born a person of color, or of ‘lower class’, or of gender preferences that are not considered the norm, can add to the challenges. You may be told you can’t marry the person you want, or have the job you want, or live where you want. This is so unfair and so you argue, you fight, and eventually you win – or at least a compromise is reached.
What has been gained? You are now in a different position - perhaps preferable to the previous – but you are still subject to the same rules, which means nothing you gain is yours, and all is subject to being taken from you without warning. Quite likely, whatever you have gained has been at the cost of another.
A woman I have always admired in her acting roles, recently presented a rant on the rights of being a woman and the crime of being subjected to masculine tyranny. The absolute vehemence that she displayed with her entire being left me breathless and in tears; not because I was so moved by her passion - although I was - but by the utter scream of outrage and victimization. She was expressing the lack of respect that women have always suffered and suffer still - as do children, animals, and the world. What more can we expect, really, living a life of enslavement?
The protection offered us is a cage and a cage is a prison, no matter how opulent. It is no place for living beings no matter what their color, gender, or species. It is all very convenient to say that the walls and bars are for our protection, when in truth they are barriers to the freedom that is inherently ours. Those who would claim to be protecting us and keeping us safe are the ones we need to protect ourselves from, and until we realize we do not need their protection, we will continue to be their victims.
Unless and until we choose to free ourselves, we cannot escape this prison for we have fortified it from within. We can tear down walls and there will be more walls. There is no fight to bring and no tyranny to overthrow. There is only the self, the integration with self, and the transformation from who we have been to who we are, and to who we must become.
Trust. All will be revealed in the process.