International Women’s Day

By Angele Young Boutte

Every single day, a woman somewhere should be celebrated. She should be lauded for the contributions she makes to the world around her.  Whether she has won the Nobel peace prize or fried the perfect egg or whether she’s a mother, or a sister, daughter, aunt, friend, or co-worker, no one else can take her place. She is uniquely who she needs to be to everyone who interacts with her. She is round; she is lean. She is bold; she is shy. She is you; she is me. There’s no one else that can be her. Celebrating her, singularly, is a true celebration of womanhood. Moreover, every single day women everywhere should be loved.

We often do not think about the significance of one woman and the impact she has on the world around her enough.  Even in this male dominated world, it’s clear that nothing that exists could be were it not for a woman. Today is International Women’s Day, but when I woke up this morning that did not play out in any significant way for me. I did all the things I normally do without batting an eye. By nine o’clock this morning, I had already nursed a baby, dried tears, taught a lesson on kindness, dropped kids off at school and daycare, averted a work crisis, attended a meeting, and drank a rich cup of coffee.

And, my full throttle morning isn’t unusual or unique to me. As women, we all do these types of things each day and we don’t think anything of it. We solve major problems and shape lives with ease, unaware of our impact at the time, but knowing what we must say AND do to make matters better wherever we are. Though we do all of these exceptional things, we minimize our triumphs and we maximize our tragedies. When we mess up we remember it. We replay it and we relive it until we begin to feel horrible. We often have a hard time remembering our greatness.

Today, we need to be mindful of how often we minimize too much of what we do as women. We need to slow down and take in the tulips we planted because they are blooming this spring. They are vibrantly blooming because all along we’ve been planting seeds. We’ve planted seeds of faith, wisdom, kindness, courage, hope, and love.

The reality is we do so much so well while making it look easy, that the “exceptional” becomes the norm, and thus, the expectation we pursue.  I propose that on this International Women’s Day 2018, we look to the woman next to us and acknowledge her greatness and show her care and love. Most importantly, we must look at the woman in us and acknowledge her greatness and show her care and love for she is much too important and much too special to ignore. Dear woman, International Women’s Day is for you. Thank you, with love.

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