Abrave and startling Truth by Maya Angelou

A BRAVE AND STARTLING TRUTH
We, this people, on a small and lonely planet
Traveling through casual space
Past aloof stars, across the way of indifferent suns
To a destination where all signs tell us
It is possible and imperative that we learn
A brave and startling truth
And when we come to it
To the day of peacemaking
When we release our fingers
From fists of hostility
And allow the pure air to cool our palms
When we come to it
When the curtain falls on the minstrel show of hate
And faces sooted with scorn are scrubbed clean
When battlefields and coliseum
No longer rake our unique and particular sons and daughters
Up with the bruised and bloody grass
To lie in identical plots in foreign soil
When the rapacious storming of the churches
The screaming racket in the temples have ceased
When the pennants are waving gaily
When the banners of the world tremble
Stoutly in the good, clean breeze
When we come to it
When we let the rifles fall from our shoulders
And children dress their dolls in flags of truce
When land mines of death have been removed
And the aged can walk into evenings of peace
When religious ritual is not perfumed
By the incense of burning flesh
And childhood dreams are not kicked awake
By nightmares of abuse
When we come to it
Then we will confess that not the Pyramids
With their stones set in mysterious perfection
Nor the Gardens of Babylon
Hanging as eternal beauty
In our collective memory
Not the Grand Canyon
Kindled into delicious color
By Western sunsets
Nor the Danube, flowing its blue soul into Europe
Not the sacred peak of Mount Fuji
Stretching to the Rising Sun
Neither Father Amazon nor Mother Mississippi who, without favor,
Nurture all creatures in the depths and on the shores
These are not the only wonders of the world
When we come to it
We, this people, on this minuscule and kithless globe
Who reach daily for the bomb, the blade and the dagger
Yet who petition in the dark for tokens of peace
We, this people on this mote of matter
In whose mouths abide cankerous words
Which challenge our very existence
Yet out of those same mouths
Come songs of such exquisite sweetness
That the heart falters in its labor
And the body is quieted into awe
We, this people, on this small and drifting planet
Whose hands can strike with such abandon
That in a twinkling, life is sapped from the living
Yet those same hands can touch with such healing, irresistible tenderness
That the haughty neck is happy to bow
And the proud back is glad to bend
Out of such chaos, of such contradiction
We learn that we are neither devils nor divines
When we come to it
We, this people, on this wayward, floating body
Created on this earth, of this earth
Have the power to fashion for this earth
A climate where every man and every woman
Can live freely without sanctimonious piety
Without crippling fear
When we come to it
We must confess that we are the possible
We are the miraculous, the true wonder of this world
That is when, and only when
We come to it.

Happy IWD 2019!

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Happy International Women's Day 2017

Happy International Day of the Girl Child

Happy IWD 2016

Another woman of courage!

Jara Durukeh is an FGM activist.

Empowering words from Judge Judy

Judge Judy shared since she thought she wasn't conventionally beautiful, at least she would have
brains, but was disappointed when an IQ text came back with average test results. Yet she didn't let being "average" on paper change how she saw herself and limit what she would accomplish. When she says people may not like her, she says it's not because she's mean, it's because she's honest and is quick to add, "You can be a tough broad and still be feminine, caring and nice."
"Don't let someone else tell you what you're worth, don't believe someone else's vision of what you're worth." - Judge Judy
She is author to several books, one of which is Beauty Fades, Dumb Is Forever: The Making of a Happy Woman, where she shares with her trademark frankness, "Women need to wise up, stop subjugating who they are, and stop making stupid decisions in the name of love. They hide their talents and opinions so they won't offend. They tiptoe through life letting others take credit for their ideas because they would rather be liked than respected. They spend their lives trying to please everyone but themselves, and then they wonder why they feel so frustrated and unfulfilled."
For those of you who think over 50 is too late to start something new, The Judge Judy show debuted when she was just 52, and is still going strong. She attributes her success to tenacity, a passion for law, and a belief that she was just as good as anyone else. A belief that she admits sometimes gets her into trouble, but this fearlessness helped her succeed and become the woman who she is today. Her latest book is the inspiring What Would Judy Say: Be The Hero of Your Own Story.
Previously published on Carpool Goddess