The Power of Women

Thankfully, I was exposed throughout my life to powerful women that wielded their power over their lives and households with grace and compassion. I was particularly influenced by a woman who seemed to me to have everything I wanted: she was smart, educated, articlulate, and had a healthy, close-knit family, and a husband that adored her. He owned a construction company and went hunting for three weeks a year with his brothers and she took care of the home and her family. He let her put turquois carpet throughout the house. He was either completely in love or he was colorblind.

I was always shocked to see how much power she had in her household. It was obvious that everyone in the household adored her. She was everything to everybody. The children listened to her, straight through their teen years, simply because they loved her and did not want her to be upset. Her husband supported her, and had her back on everything, and wanted to be with her everyday.

I watched her closely and asked a lot of questions. She never seemed to mind, often summing things up for me rather quickly. One time I asked her if she was happy. She became very still for a moment. Then laughed and said: “I hope so! Otherwise what have I been doing all these years?” It was then that I realized that everything she did was done with a clear purpose. She was never idle, even during times set aside for recreation. When it was time to play, she played with all of her might. She was in the moment at all times. She smiled a lot.

I used to think that she sacrificed a lot for her family and that she expended an incredible amount of energy into making sure everyone was taken care of. However, it is only with life experience do I realize another peice of this puzzle: This woman did not compromise herself. This is the piece that I have found to be true of all of the powerful women I knew. This woman was happy because she stayed true to herself and her priorities. Her priorities became the family priorities and everyone was happy.

Somehow, all of these women co-existed with men with big egos. I often refer to these men as the “man of the house” enforcers. They never really take the lead, but somehow manage to maintain an air of superiority somehow. This is the part that seemed very at odds with the woman I described above. So one day I asked her why she let him parade around like that when she was the one that made all the decisions. This was another one of those times when she stopped dead in her tracks, like I caught her off guard. She looked me straight in the eyes and said, “You are far too observant not to know the answer to that.”

I hope to remain true to that statement…

Add comment March 22nd, 2007