I have three daughters… This fact weighs on me heavily everyday. I can’t tell you why. I think about my boys all day long also, but for some reason my daughters are always heavily in my thoughts. I have thought a lot lately about the racial tension within the United States. The long-standing issues that this country has had with racial divides. I hate it. Every time that comes up in topic, my mind then wanders to the gender prejudice that has lived throughout the world since the beginning of time. My thoughts then come back to my daughters. They are mixed race, Native American and Caucasian. I hate thinking about their race or blend of races being held against them for any reason. I hate to think that because they are women that their opinions will not be heard and their capabilities will be considered void.
You see my husband is the leader of our home. He is a quiet man in public. However, people seem to misconstrue his quiet nature for lack of opinions and conviction. I am the loud boistrous one between the two of us. We speak to each other on the issues that concern our family and because I have a knack for speaking, I am the one who voices whatever issue might exist (most of the time). What people tend to forget is that my husband agrees. For example an issue came up with one of our children a few years back. We had not moved back to our home town yet and my husband worked an hour away. I went in to address the issue, ask my questions to make sure I understood correctly, and attempt to solve the problem. I got treated like I was an idiot for having any questions at all…I called my husband and told him that he would have to handle this one. (Surprise..he talks!) He went in and addressed the same issue and said the same things and got treated with the utmost respect. Hmm…okay, I see how this works.
This is a passionate topic for me.. just ask my father. We argue constantly about things in this world that are inadvertantly degrading women. One thing we do agree on is women degrading themselves. That is a culture cycle that has been handed down from woman to woman for centuries and needs to be broken. Women deserve respect and should not settle for anything less. A strong man makes sure he exemplifies that in how he treats his wife and how he treats and teaches his daughter. A strong woman exemplifies that in how she conducts herself while her daughter is growing and learning.
I will say this, there are a lot of issues in the world. But racial and gender prejudice has gone on long enough. I do not want my daughters growing up in a world that disrespects their culture and their femininity. They WILL know who they are, where they come from, what they deserve, and not to be ashamed of the talents that GOD has blessed them with.
blendedfirstfamily 