Anonymous Was a Woman

This week’s post is building on a couple of pictures I came across during the week and a continuation of last week’s theme.

This next picture is of an award winning poem which asks an intriguing question of  “what if”.  It piqued my interest in how many ways women have been marginalized and where it began. The answer to when it began is obvious in the poem below. Women were “anonymous” in the old and new testaments. Theologians have debunked much of its history.

The best part of my blogging is I have uncovered so much of our lesser-known history and appreciate all the ways women have contributed to their successes. From innkeepers to brewers, to pirates on the high seas and Viking warriors, they’ve found a way to be more than anonymous. I find the term very disrespectful when half of the planet is female. To put an Exclamation Point on the end of the poem, we celebrate with every victory to be heard, to be won. We’ve come a long way and are choosing to celebrate.

I saved this photo as “forbidden fruit” as it brought much “food for thought.” Here is the accompanying poem.

“If Adam Picked the Apple,”

Written by Danielle Coffyn

If Adam Picked the Apple

There would be a parade, a celebration, a holiday to commemorate the day he sought enlightenment.

We would not speak of temptation by the devil, rather, we would laud Adam’s curiosity, his desire for adventure and knowing.

We would feast on apple-inspired fare: tortes, chutneys, pancakes, pies.

There would be plays and songs reenacting his courage.

But it was Eve who grew bored, weary of her captivity in Eden.

And a woman’s desire for freedom is rarely a cause for celebration.

And to bring it back to when we became “anonymous” I hope this is proof that we’ve never been. Re-elevating our long-lost histories has given us new footing to rewrite what has been hidden.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:

All one’s life as a young woman one is on show, a focus of attention, people notice you. You set yourself up to be noticed and admired. And then, not expecting it, you become middle-aged and anonymous. No one notices you. You achieve a wonderful freedom. It’s a positive thing. You can move about unnoticed and invisible.

-Doris Lessing, novelist, poet, playwright, Nobel laureate (22 Oct 1919-2013)