Mama said Mama sad.
"Men are fathers" but "mamas are people too". Being daddy is one part of the man but, it seems to be the expectation of the day (that I fall prey to daily), being a mom means trying to regroup and get that me-part of the self stuck back on the spit-up on, baby food smeared and chalk and crayon marked personhood of who you were becoming pre-baby(ies) or who you wish to evolve to become now that mommy has somehow overshadowed your own individual identity.
Finding your soul mate and creating a family is a primary urge that many of us not only strive for but are consumed by -- including myself -- and I think that is a most wonderful thing. Really, finding love and creating and sharing love with your family...nothing is better. Love is what we humans are truly all about. It should always be the priority in one's life.
But when that love within your self wishes to reach beyond the limits of your family and into your neighborhood, community, city, state, nation and to other lands of faraway brothers and sisters...there needs to be a way to support those love interests too.
How can mothers be leaders both inside and outside the home?
Men have been the power figures in the public realm. And the personal sphere was to be managed by the wife, directed by the husband. Depending on the household, there is still truth in this statement. But I am not writing about what happens inside the home...families can no longer have a narrow definition. How daily home chores are divided and who is the heavy hand, etc., well, in some ways parallels the frustration I think both men and women have in trying to understand how to take care of themselves - as spouse, parent, employee (er) and as self -- and the many parts of self! Physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, sexually... Both men and women are having a tough time of making heads or tails of their lives and how best to live...
But that doesn't address why men, who are also daddies, seem to still be in power positions outside the home while their wives are home with the kiddies or at part-time positions trying to make a go at staying sane and add a little extra bacon to the table or why they are even working full-time but without the same status of power that a man may have in the same position.
Where are the women of power? Why aren't they there now? And how do we get them to be there -- in big business? government?
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