Monday, August 24, 2009

Remarkable

When you went to sleep last night did you consider that you were a survivor? Did you consider as sleep came over you that elsewhere around the world another womon was closing her eyes, not sure if they would ever open again? Did it come to you as you awoke that you had done something extraordinary? Did it come to you that every womon everywhere who awoke to face another day was also extraordinary? You are a womon, a remarkable survivor. Every womon is a remarkable survivor.

We come in all spectrums, we womyn. Some like me call themselves Lesbians. Some like me call themselves Radical Lesbian Feminists. Some like me call themselves Dyke Separatists. Others do not. Defining of oneself is not always easy. For some it is not even a possibility. For me it is deep and personal, nor is it static. Twenty-one years ago I called myself a Lesbian, but it was stuttering and hushed, bound up in the fear of what others might think and fear of their reprisals. Today I cannot only say Lesbian, but I have strengthened it by adding to it the further definitions of who I am in this world. This is how I have survived and more how I have thrived. But even as I sit here and write these words I know that too many womyn will never have the luxury to utter such words. Their survival is more basic, more desperate, and oh so remarkable.

Not every womon can even consider who she is. Every womon does not have my life’s experience or the privilege to live where I live. Some of my sisters face unbelievable hardships, things that I wonder if I could endure, but every womon does what she can to survive. For some there is no choice. Be it to have babies or to live under the constant fear of annihilation from war, disease, or starvation. Some womyn are to spend their whole lives hidden from the world, never to have their face let alone their voice be known. Others have no identity in the other extreme they are commodities. Bodies revealed only to be consumed in the name of so-called desire. These womyn have no privacy of self, they are splayed and displayed for all to see. And when they are no longer deemed useful they are discarded, thrown out, killed, and erased.

Despite the horrifying realities in all the extremes of how terribly womyn have it in this world we endure. I know that every story that reaches me, is the ongoing struggle to survive. I know that every womon who does not make it has done her best and has left a legacy for those of us still here to carry on. You see I am not just in this for myself. I am in it for every girl and womon born to this planet. I am in it for all of human kind. It is because of we womyn that we are all here.

I have relative luxury compared to many of my sisters. I do indeed face discrimination, but the color of my skin, the era and the country I live in, the age and ability of my body and mind has afforded me certain privileges that I must not take for granted. I survive by remembering this and working for the abolition of violence against and freedom of all womyn and girls. I survive by living in a way that is as sustainable as possible. I chose to live simply and harmoniously. It is the small things that add up. From what I chose to eat and wear that makes a difference. These small things can become big things. Big things can become great things. If I write a letter of protest or urge a head of state to do right by womyn and girls, my one letter along with thousands, maybe millions of others says we are paying attention. I have marched as one person, but together with others we have been a wave of change, transformation, and revolution on epic scales. If I do this is it really inconvenient? What could be more convenient than to promote the well being of not just myself, but every living thing?

How do I survive? I live with the mindfulness of not just myself, but of others. I do this because I can. I do this because I want every womon to one day have the choice and the chance to live, as she wants to. Some I know, some I will never know. So when you close your eyes tonight and go to sleep, let yourself consider that you are a survivor; let yourself consider all the womyn of the world. We are all survivors and even thrivers. I want you to know that you are remarkable. I am remarkable. Every womon before, with, and after me is remarkable.

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