I am woman!

I am never the one to celebrate days for things like friendship, love and more so womanhood. Yet, call it serendipity, or whatever, over the past fortnight, a few books and movies just seemed to reaffirm my constant belief that a woman's life is never easy no matter what she does and how powerful she might be. I do not draw from political or social events yet the books/movies whose covers I reproduce below left me with a chain of thoughts that prompted me to share these stories.

     

             

And just as one good thing leads to another, I stumbled across life stories of two extra ordinary women recently featured by National Geographic- Eliza Scidmore and Marie Tharp. My small list is by no means exhaustive and neither suggestive. Yet these stories moved me somewhere deep inside.

While these stories are indeed inspiration, so are those of my mother, grandmothers, sisters, friends, neighbors, bosses and scores of other women who form part of our lives knowingly or unknowingly. Each one of you is a Sarah Grimke, a Beryl Markham, a Joy Mangano, a Waris Dirie, a MataHari, a Skeeter, a Scidmore, a Marie Tharp. More importantly, each one of you is a Woman. And each one of you is me!

And what better song lyrics to convey it all..

I Am Woman

~Helen Reddy
I am woman, hear me roar
In numbers too big to ignore
And I know too much to go back an' pretend
'Cause I've heard it all before
And I've been down there on the floor
No one's ever gonna keep me down again

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

You can bend but never break me
'Cause it only serves to make me
More determined to achieve my final goal
And I come back even stronger
Not a novice any longer
'Cause you've deepened the conviction in my soul

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to, I can do anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman

I am woman watch me grow
See me standing toe to toe
As I spread my lovin' arms across the land
But I'm still an embryo
With a long long way to go
Until I make my brother understand

Oh yes I am wise
But it's wisdom born of pain
Yes, I've paid the price
But look how much I gained
If I have to I can face anything
I am strong (strong)
I am invincible (invincible)
I am woman
Oh, I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong

I am woman
I am invincible
I am strong

I am woman