International Women's Day: Share the love

 

Irene, my thirteen-year-old daughter, struggles with a first-world problem; she sometimes feels guilty for all that she has. Good food, warm home, decent clothing, a fabulous education, the love and support of many. In this country, we sometimes forget to mention the resources that others desperately need: clean water, clean air.

When Irene doesn’t want to practice her violin, she knows that she’s tossing her head at her privilege. And she feels badly about it. But sometimes, she just doesn’t want to practice. I get this. One of the luxuries of the privileged is to be bored or irritated by our abundance.

I don’t want Irene to feel guilty about her life. But I do want her to understand her role in the world. So I tell her something that I believe, something that I hope she can understand and use to ease this issue in her life. And that is this:  

If you live a life of privilege, part of your work is using that privilege to help others. It’s very simple: take a bit of your comfort and pass it on.

There is no time like…well, today.   

Today we are meant to celebrate women; it’s International Women’s Day. It’s been just more than 100 years since we first marked this day. My how things have changed. Especially in the United States, women have more freedom, more choices, more opportunities, and more power.

And yet someone like Rush Limbaugh can still rock the world with the fantastic garbage he spews at women, about women. And yet we’re still arguing about whether women should have access to birth control. Here, in this amazing country of privilege.

So imagine if we had to walk several miles to get clean water for our babies. Imagine that we couldn’t risk being seen with a man or our entire world would turn against us. Imagine if we didn’t have what we need, let alone luxuries like our cell phones.  

But the world is a changing place and we’re ready to just keep the changes coming. We’ve come a long way, baby, but you ain’t seen nothing yet.

Today, like every day, we can do our part to keep women moving ahead. We can do important things in our world in a million ways to appreciate, honor, and advance women’s causes.

Because women’s causes are the world’s causes. No difference.

So, here are five things you can do today (any day) to advance the world. How cool are you?

·         Donate. Money lets people do good work. Some of my favorite places to spread the comfort:

o   Kiva More than a billion people live in extreme poverty and Kiva says that 75 percent of those people are women and girls. Kiva facilitates micro-loans directly to women so they can start their own business. Right now, you can start for FREE with help from Dermalogica, who will give you $25 to donate to any profile you like. Go now!

o     The Global Fund for Women does amazing work all over the globe. Spread the privilege, baby.

o   Act locally. Find your local community action program. These programs were started in 1964 as part of the War on Poverty. There’s been improvement, but the gains of the previous 40 years are under deep attacks. The war is still on, folks, and these programs are on the front line, giving people “a hand up, not a hand out.” You can find your local program here:Community Action Partnership People living in Southwestern Wisconsin can go directly to Couleecap. (Full disclosure: I’m on the Couleecap Board of Directors.)

·         Write Rush Limbaugh a brief letter. In 500 words or less, tell him a story from your life about what being a woman means to you. If you’re angry, fine. But a story of your role as a real human being—a woman—may be more effective. You can contact him at ElRushbo@EIBnet.com (Share these with me, too!)

·         Thank a woman. Somewhere along the way in your life, a woman has meant something good for you. Probably, many women. Sometimes it’s surprising for women to hear how much they impact a life. Take a minute today to consider this woman and send her a note, make a phone call, or make a list of why she matters to you.

·         Encourage a girl. Find something genuine to say to a girl that doesn’t have anything to do with the way she looks.

·         Check out Miss Representation and their campaign against unrealistic and damaging portrayals of women and girls in the media. Okay, this is number six. But it’s worth it. 

Have a great day. Be a great woman. Be a great man. Make a great world.