Women's Lib Watch Out!

Okay, here are two things that really bug me.

#1 The bumper sticker that says "Well-behaved women don't make history."

#2 The descriptive term "strong woman" used so often in college about women in books who defy "traditional morality" to do whatever it is that they want (like leave their husband and children because they were stifled, or something).

OY VAY PEOPLE!

When I see the bumper sticker I feel like screaming "What about MARY?!" This being such a Catholic-rich state, that might be more effective here than elsewhere. But of course, the bumper sticker owner would probably claim that as an exception. It's true that the history books are full of many more men than women, but there's nothing wrong with that. Men are supposed to be the movers and shakers! And without well-behaved women, those men couldn't have moved or shaken. It's so much more important to be well-behaved and make a quiet difference with far-reaching consequences than to be in the history books for the kind of thing such bumper-sticker toters would applaud.

And what is up with calling someone "strong" who is immoral and selfish? It takes a lot more strength to die to self and do the right thing than it does to follow your own desires. In class I'm sure they were referring to those women braving social stigmas or some such thing, but there has to be some other term they can use to describe this. You know, something like "so bent on getting their own way, and blind to everything else, that they were willing to be looked down on by the rest of society. Including ourselves." But of course, that takes a little longer to say than "strong woman."

So what is a strong woman then? Self-sacrifice springs to mind, among other things...

I think of my Mother, who, while going through deep grief, gave me an example of justifying God without exception. She wasn't faking. She was living out her faith in front of me. Hers isn't some kind of brute strength, charging through life getting her own way, hers is the beautiful strength of choosing God and His ways again and again, even when it isn't easy.

I think of my friend Karen who went straight from being single to being married with four children, and who works from dawn to dusk to take care of them, barely taking a moment for herself, and still makes time for friendship with me.

I think of friends who are forging their way through life, discovering their paths one step at a time, unsure of what the future holds and yet going straight on.

I think of amazing mothers who have raised (and are raising) difference-making children.

Women who put others before themselves, women who say "yes" to God even when it means death to self, women who show the incredible strength of surrender - these are the strong women.

I'm sure there are many other attributes, and I know there are many other examples. I had ideas of developing this into a full-blown essay. But here is a little surface-scratching at least.