Disturbance In The Force

That's the force of women, for clarification.

Many things lately in the news disturb me. One that didn't was the Women's March, participated in all over the country, all over the world. It's not just about The Donald, though I'm sure that worries a lot of women, and the forces behind him worry us even more. It was about a whole gamut of women's issues. After all, our issues don't happen in a vacuum, but arise out of trends in society as a whole - or at least the parts in power.

I was doing my usual twice-monthly peace demonstrating at the time. Yes, that's a women's issue, in case you need that clarified. Men's too, of course. Half of our regulars were down at the state senate lawn, joining in the Phoenix march. Notably it was the part of our group who are more able-bodied, more capable of carrying signs and hiking over whatever distances. I'm not there yet. Wal-Mart still wipes me out, especially if it's my third errand of the day. But my heart was with all those millions of women who took to the streets, and my pride was additionally in the universal peacefulness of all those demonstrations.

No riots. No firebombs. No vandalism. No arrests. Try not to get offended, guys, but I took that as a show that women can do some things better than men.

One of the things in the news that did disturb me today was a woman on public radio complaining about the marching. For her, it was all about race. It was proof to her that white women can march peacefully and women of color are not allowed to do so. She was so upset that she chose to stay home.

Now I didn't think I was so naively blind that I don't see the differences in color in how people are often treated in this country. I just didn't see it here.  This wasn't a white women's march. My views close up in the coverage didn't limit race, though, like our population, they were predominantly white. And neither were they all women, though that's a whole 'nother issue. Good to know that there are men out there who support us, support women.

The part of the radio speaker's commentary that really upset me was her choice to stay home from the march. If she felt so isolated from white women, or felt we were so incapable of seeing her causes too, then she should have shown up, been seen, been heard from. Isolation is counterproductive. Networking gets results. Being there gets you included in the US, not stuck out in the THEM. We women stand together better as friends than as strangers. That may be a whole human race kind of thing, but it's definitely a woman thing.

I came of age during the rise of the feminist movement. I remember so many pointless and harmful fights about lesbian vs. straight, mothers vs. single and/or childless women, white vs. black. We ALL as women have, then and still, so many of the same issues, that they overwhelm our additional separate issues. We should all be smarter than that.

Wise up, join up, and quit whining when YOU can make a difference!