The important work that women do with women …
I have spent the last two weeks with different groups of brave people doing important work on St Thomas and on St Croix. These people work everyday to help others have a better life and they are all anxious to have more skills to deal with the situations they find themselves in. I continue to be impressed with them and the work they do. They just want to help. Sometimes the people they are dealing with don’t want to be helped or don’t know how to accept the help that is offered to them. Other times deserving people get caught up in the bureaucracy and there is nothing that can be done to help.
These front line women KNOW what needs to happen to change things for everyone. They know how to make everyone in society productive and contributing members. They have seen where things go wrong and they understand how government money could actually be used to improve the lot of enough people to stop the cycles. They don’t give up even though they have seen generations of families visit their agencies and yet they roll up their sleeves and help again. Experience has taught them what works to help people regain a footing and start again but no one asks them. And when they do have a chance to say a few words to politicians or other decision makers, it always seems that the budget has different priorities. Funding gets cut but the number of people in need grows because money is being spent on the wrong things. And around we go.
I admire these tireless women who fight the unending battle and I am happy to do my very small part. I know they are not alone. There are goddess warriors like these in every community around the world. They do what they can. They understand the patterns, the ebb and flow of life in a way that it may be impossible for men to understand. Deny it if you want to but for me I see that there is a women’s way of knowing. As a species we would be wise to pay greater attention to that wisdom and use it to inform our decisions about our future on this planet.
