My Pussycat Hat

The other night I was lying in bed and I thought, I want a pussycat hat. They are cute, and I like the little ears and the pink color. Ok, yes that is frivolous, silly and "girlish”, but that is one part of me. That is not the only part, I am also a strong and powerful woman and am not afraid to roar. Sometimes I meow, or purr too, and sometimes I am silent and just want to curl up on a blanket

or bask in the sun.

I am a woman in all her creative complexity and proud of it. I did not choose to march in the "women's" march on several fronts. I don't feel the same "protests" that many of these women feel, and practically speaking it would have been a lot. Instead I substitute-taught two yoga classes that morning so that another woman could march. So perhaps in my own way I was supporting women by supporting her.

I did feel a sense of disappointment and a tinge of sadness on the way to class that morning. I was listening to NPR and they were talking about the march, and mentioning how there were some divisions in the organization process. There were a group of women who were anti-abortion and wanted to be a part of the march but were banned. Sigh. Later I found out one of the organizers is a Palestinian Muslim woman who proudly wears her hijab (traditionally a sign of submission, not only to God, but also to men) and she is proposing Sharia law for all. She tweets: "Who cares if women do not have the right to drive, when they have ten weeks maternity leave"... I do.

As both a working women of off-hours which also allow me to be a stay at home mom, I can say even one day without my car when it is being serviced, feels unbearable. I like knowing I have the freedom to go and do. I like knowing I am not confined to my home or dependent on another to take me to the store or the gym, or anywhere else I might choose to go, should it spontaneously come to me. The question one might ask is, why not have both?

A yoga teacher of mine several years back once said casually over a meal, when the solution only has two choices, right, wrong, black or white, we can be sure that we are not thinking in God-like terms. Those were not his words exactly, but that was the idea. It struck me at the time and continues to stay with me. I think it is true, and tend to agree. God is love, a creator who creates out of love. His knowledge is that which passes all understanding. Anyone who has been madly in love may have experienced a tinge of that invincible sense when all things feel possible. Love by its very nature is complex and magical, not linear. When we find ourselves saying it must be this way, only this way, or that way, we have limited ourselves. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4: 13)

I don't agree with this woman, but I think it is fine for her to march and state her views. It seems things have gone askew. If it is a women's march it should be for ALL women period. Women are complex, diverse beings and they should be honored, period. Each individual has their own path and life which leads them day by day, moment by moment to the convictions they hold and the choices they make. Some are sensitive to the earth, the animals. Some will cry save the planet, save the animals, who have no voice. Others will say, save the unborn child, it has not a voice. Some will say I like a gentleman who holds the door, others will call it benevolent sexism and be offended that they are being treated as not able.

In my opinion women must stop being at battle with men, with themselves, with each other and the world. Can it not start with a simple idea: all women are a manifestation of the Divine feminine, all women deserve honor, regardless of the path they are on? Jesus for one understood this. “There is neither Jew nor Greek . . . there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3: 28)

That is my pussycat hat.