The Way of Women

They stand, often unseen and unheard.

They comfort, often without being comforted.

They give, often without reward or thanks.

They serve, often undertaking the lowliest tasks.

They volunteer, offering pieces of themselves to those in desperate need.

They feed, they create, they shield, they sustain.

Their gifts often go unrecognized.

A piece of themselves marks their passage, a soft word, a loving touch, an encouraging whisper, selflessly given, gratefully received, sometimes long remembered.

It is the Way of Women.

Leaders toward peace and conciliation, marching toward progress without conflict. Mothers, daughters, aunts, dreamers, artists, teachers. Bus drivers, doctors, janitors, caregivers.

Firefighters, defenders, feminists, housewives. Executives, cooks, farm workers, entrepreneurs. Protesters, organizers, supporters. Women past, present, and future— who have given, are giving, and will give to those who cry, to those who need comfort, to those lost in pain.

The women who have shouted for justice, demanded fairness, built schools and libraries, protected history, and demanded better.

The women who speak for those without a voice. It is the Way of Women: battling, shouting, whispering, quieting, leading the world to a higher place. This month let us recognize their strength, their multiple roles, their power to soothe, the burdens they shoulder, the peace they bring. Let us applaud their struggle for impartiality, their demand for equality.

Celebrate their reach for recognition, and affirm that their successes threaten no one. Who would not want to be a woman? She is the balance in a world of imbalance.

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Voice