A CALL TO WOMEN: USE YOUR POWER TO TRANSFORM THE WORLD

On stage in front of 500 women at the first Sister GIANT gathering the end of February, Marianne Williamson stood as a radiant beacon calling women to use their power to make Earth a better place for us all. You’d never believe she’s 57. Or even 47. Stunningly beautiful with a trim, curves-in-the-right-places body, Marianne is the epitome of a Baby Boomer who will never be old. Why? For one thing she has no time or patience to absorb the programming and conditioning of old age. This vital, energetic, ete ally-youthful woman occupies her mind and her time with plans and action to enlighten people and relieve the suffering that keeps humans from being all we can be. That’s a major action step to youthfulness – doing something good for someone else. Marianne’s particular project is ending world hunger but her message was to urge women to start a conversation from a place of deep sharing about issues that can transform the world. She encouraged us to use our ever-increasing power to make a difference and to form advocacy partnerships with men as well as people on the left and right politically. It’s our time now. Women today are no longer second-class citizens begging for the crumbs of influence and authority to make change happen. It’s a softer, gentler power though. Those who went before us suffered through the struggles of women’s suffrage and the bra-bu ing days when women were angry and men were angrier. We’ve come a long way, baby. Maybe not as far as we’d like. I vividly remember one day 60 years ago when I was a teenager wannabe even though I had already turned 13. It wasn’t just what I did that makes that day stand out in my mind – it was the question I asked my mother and her oy-yoy-yoy-bless-herself-three-times reaction to my question while I paraded in front of her wearing my big sister’s bra stuffed with two handfuls of tissues. “Mom, why can’t women be priests?” Heresy! How could good Catholic parents raise a daughter who would ask a question like that! So some things haven’t changed, but look around, a lot has. Even at The Taos News where Joan Livingston is our first female editor. It’s time to put into action Marianne Williamson’s famous quote from “A Return to Love” written almost twenty years ago. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be. “You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are meant to shine as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Now let’s get going. For more information about Sister GIANT, visit www.sistergiant.com.