“So long as you write what you wish to write, that is all that matters; and whether it matters for ages or only for hours, nobody can say.”

― Virginia Woolf

 

I do not want a day to celebrate women.

I do not want a day to celebrate the earth, or love, or anything else! 

Well, that is not entirely true. 

I believe in celebrating achievement. I believe in having days to mark remembrance, or thanks.  I love rituals that allow humans to come together and understand one another and the world around us.

The problem with special days is what happens the other 364 days of the year.  Honouring International Women’s Day does not change the sexist laws, body shaming, abuse, inequity and straight up crimes against humanity that occur every day based on people’s genitals. 

Am I just railing against something because the human inclination is to complain? Maybe, but I wake up some mornings and feel so weighted down by humanity that I feel in need of a crying wall to place the sorrows that fill my heart  and crush my spirit. 

But none of this is about me, it is about us.  It is about the people of this planet that come in all shapes, sizes and colours.  It is about the humans of different gender, sex and sexual preference that are judged, boxed and condemned every day for the beautiful way they came into this world.

I have often wondered what would happen if we could not see one another with our eyes.  What would happen if we encountered one another through conversation and smell and perhaps touch? Would some of our preconceived beliefs about one another disappear with our attachment to visual categories, preferences and hierarchies? Or would we simply use our other senses to quickly calculate the differences between us, rather than the similarities?

It is my privilege that allows me to wonder such thoughts.  Because I am a woman that has had, and continues to have, everything I need.  And yet I have experienced gender discrimination in the work place, body shaming for nursing my children in public, and sexual assault.

We need special days because we are still learning how to cherish one another and the world we live in.  We need an International Women’s Day to remind us that no matter how far we have come, every day people are fighting to be heard and struggling to be treated with respect . The journey ahead is long and we are very slow.

We are still learning and I am impatient.

I dream of a day when we no longer need special days.  When we no longer see each other as a means to an end, nor fear that which is different, nor disregard that which does not benefit us.

I dream of a day when we honour one another, and the earth, and all her beings every day.

In the meantime I will rail against that which is not enough. I will stomp my feet and jut out my chin. I will challenge myself, and those around me, to try harder because the real work happens 365 days a year!

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.”

― Eleanor Roosevelt