When my daughters were little, they were obsessed with horses in any form—stuffed animal, plastic model, on TV, in books, on iced cupcakes, on tee shirts and earrings, and of course, living and breathing in the flesh. The girls first sat atop tiny ponies that were barely bigger than a dog and later my horse-loving daughters learned to command staggeringly beautiful and towering equines—with barely a visible cue.
I believe that in addition to the magnificence and majesty of horses, maybe my girls felt a sense of power when they rode, a power that perhaps they intuited could serve them in some yet unknown way.
Fast forward to last night’s Golden Globe Awards in which a palpable wave of honor washed over women and girls. Yes, it’s a tidal wave of sorts right now, but that volume of water is what’s needed to ultimately settle into a warm bath of inclusion, worth, and wellbeing for women. It does not stop with women though—because women will not hear of it happening that way—women bring everyone along, sharing the raft on a maiden journey toward the horizon of loving possibility for all brothers and sisters.
Looking back over the last year, many women’s hearts were deeply saddened by the awareness that the disrespect most of them had encountered throughout their lives, was going to become normalized and accepted. Leaders (mostly male, from an empowered and distorted patriarchy) from business, government, entertainment, news, and the arts who had been sexually inappropriate or worse, continued to be elected, promoted, celebrated, and imbued with more and more money and power. And then Tarana Burke offered #metoo to the world and everything began to change. The ill actions of so many were brought to the light of day—and women’s stories were heard and believed. Perspective changed and healing is beginning.
This time in history reminds me of a story: a little boy wakes up one Christmas morning to find horse poo instead of presents under the tree. To everyone’s confused gaze, he begins gleefully jumping around exclaiming, “With all this horse poo, there’s gotta be a pony somewhere!”
With all the horse poo we have experienced, our pony is finally here—and instead of us needing its power (we are learning to embrace our own inner power, and the power we can create and share with others), the pony offers us joy and a ride out of a bad way of being-- toward a new day of honor, love, and respect for ALL people. Giddy-up! We are saddled up and ready.