she's alive part 1

Dedicated to every woman who has ever lived.

She's dancing. She's smiling. She's flying. She's exploring the world and everyone is cheering her on. She reaches beyond the sky. She's touching the sky. Alas, she's holding up the sky and everyone is rejoicing with her.

To the working woman, to the nursing woman, to the homeless woman, to the pregnant woman, to the single woman, to the fighting woman, we raise our glass. Your victory improves the rest of our worlds.

Your victory is our victory.

So why are we blind?
Why do we leave you there, dying, as the sky crashes down on you, shatters everything and leaving you in darkness?
Why do we not grasp your reaching hands that once touched the sky and now only find emptiness?
Why do we perpetrate your weakness and continue to sap your strength?
Why do we belittle your efforts and snatch away all your hope?
Why do we ignore your tears and pleas for help?

Why do we allow half of our world to deteriorate and pollute our consciences with misogyny, murder, and scandal?

Why do we settle for survival, when the opportunity to thrive is upon us?

To live is to promote life. Promoting life is the challenge all of us must rise to, for her sake. For our sake. For the sake of life.

re-life

It felt like breathing, which gave her the impression that she wasn't really living before.

Everything was suddenly so natural, so vulnerable. Everything physical seemed to dissolve - it all crumbled around her, leaving only her heart completely exposed, screaming worlds she had never heard but always felt.

And then she was free.
All boldness released, all shame gone.

She opened her eyes. The world looked different. The sky looked brighter, the people a little less cruel.

And she wasn't standing alone