Wednesday, January 25, 2012
What is a Woman?
Recently I've been pondering the idea of womanhood. Seeing as how half of the Earth's population (actually, I heard it was a bit more than half but we'll just keep it simple) is female, you'd think that there'd be a definition of womanhood or a globally-recognized guidebook, "How To Be A Woman." But alas, tis not so simple. I don't know about anywhere else but as an American and as a member of the LDS Church I'm definitely given two slightly conflicting views on how to be the "perfect woman." It's kind of scary, really. Neither are easy and both promise a reward, though I'm not sure how much happiness the one delivers. To be the perfect woman, according to our culture, we need to have 34-24-34 measurements, be perfectly groomed at all times, fit, gorgeous, always wearing heels. Not that that's a bad thing! But I think the priorities are a bit messed up.
The worldly man wants women to be objects. He says women should be seen and not heard and that we are only here for the entertainment of the male species. He says women ought need to be sexy and beyond that, nothing else really matters. It is very common for women to be objectified in the entertainment business by synecdoche.
The worldly woman, on the other hand, says that the perfect woman will be career-driven and successful in their line of work. She says that we still need to be beautiful and sexy but that we need not be cumbered with a husband and that children will just ruin our potential.
The worst thing about all this is that it's so loud and so subtle. Daily, we're being bombarded with these messages and we may not even notice it!
That is why, it times such as these, I'm grateful to have stalwart examples of real women! Obviously, my Mother is the first that I will cite. She's been there to lead me all of my life. I've never heard her once complain that if it weren't for us kids, she'd be a famous chef in a big, fancy restaurant (though I'm sure it's true). I've never even heard her complain about how hard it is to be a mother and to try to raise four unruly and stubborn children! She's always been gentle and loving. In fact, the best word I can think of to describe my Mom is soft. I'm pretty sure the number of times she has raised her voice in my 20 years of existence can be counted on one hand. She's always been a fantastic example of love. I've never heard her speak ill of anyone. I've always hoped (and still hope) to someday be a mother like her.
The second example is my Grandmother. I don't remember spending a whole lot of time with her when I was a child because she and my Grandfather were off serving several missions for our Church, but I always loved the things I've learned from her. Probably, most notably, I learned to love baking. She was always so patient and kind, even when I got the eggshells in the cookie dough. I have come to find that grandparents have an ability to teach their grandchildren in a way that parents cannot. Since they are not so familiar as a mom or dad, they can teach bigger lessons than just the day-to-day things that parents have to go through. But I digress. Like her daughter (my Mom), my Grandmother has always been soft. She's probably the kindest and gentlest woman I know and I'm grateful for her example of service.
Since I cannot name them all, I'll just have to do a blanket statement and say that my third example is a conglomeration of all the righteous women in the scriptures, my wards, my stakes, and the General Authorities. Possibly one of my favorite quotes regarding the difference between a woman of the world and a woman of God is from Sister Margaret D. Nadauld, former Young Woman General President. In the October 2000 General Conference, she gave a talk in which she said,
The worldly man wants women to be objects. He says women should be seen and not heard and that we are only here for the entertainment of the male species. He says women ought need to be sexy and beyond that, nothing else really matters. It is very common for women to be objectified in the entertainment business by synecdoche.
The worldly woman, on the other hand, says that the perfect woman will be career-driven and successful in their line of work. She says that we still need to be beautiful and sexy but that we need not be cumbered with a husband and that children will just ruin our potential.
The worst thing about all this is that it's so loud and so subtle. Daily, we're being bombarded with these messages and we may not even notice it!
That is why, it times such as these, I'm grateful to have stalwart examples of real women! Obviously, my Mother is the first that I will cite. She's been there to lead me all of my life. I've never heard her once complain that if it weren't for us kids, she'd be a famous chef in a big, fancy restaurant (though I'm sure it's true). I've never even heard her complain about how hard it is to be a mother and to try to raise four unruly and stubborn children! She's always been gentle and loving. In fact, the best word I can think of to describe my Mom is soft. I'm pretty sure the number of times she has raised her voice in my 20 years of existence can be counted on one hand. She's always been a fantastic example of love. I've never heard her speak ill of anyone. I've always hoped (and still hope) to someday be a mother like her.
The second example is my Grandmother. I don't remember spending a whole lot of time with her when I was a child because she and my Grandfather were off serving several missions for our Church, but I always loved the things I've learned from her. Probably, most notably, I learned to love baking. She was always so patient and kind, even when I got the eggshells in the cookie dough. I have come to find that grandparents have an ability to teach their grandchildren in a way that parents cannot. Since they are not so familiar as a mom or dad, they can teach bigger lessons than just the day-to-day things that parents have to go through. But I digress. Like her daughter (my Mom), my Grandmother has always been soft. She's probably the kindest and gentlest woman I know and I'm grateful for her example of service.
Since I cannot name them all, I'll just have to do a blanket statement and say that my third example is a conglomeration of all the righteous women in the scriptures, my wards, my stakes, and the General Authorities. Possibly one of my favorite quotes regarding the difference between a woman of the world and a woman of God is from Sister Margaret D. Nadauld, former Young Woman General President. In the October 2000 General Conference, she gave a talk in which she said,
"Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity."
I'm so thankful that in this world which shouts lies and blinds us with deceit, I've had righteous examples to lead me and show me how to be a real woman.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Gotta Start Somewhere
Facebook is all well and good but I have to say that I find it doesn't quite do everything I would like it to. So here I am trying blogging for myself. I've started (and neglected a bit) a blog for my best friend, Brian Hart, who is currently serving a 2-year mission for the LDS church but I've decided that I want to talk about myself a little more. I mean what girl doesn't? Also, I really enjoy writing but since I'm not currently attending any classes I don't have an outlet for any compositions.
Hopefully my blogging efforts will save my family's ears from incessant rambling since I seem to be a tad more concise when it comes to the written language as opposed to the spoken language. I'm excited to share my thoughts, challenges, discoveries and excitements with you!
I just wanted to start off by explaining why I chose my blog title. I'm not really cute or clever when it comes to naming things. In general I'd rather just call things what they are but "Alita's Blog" felt unoriginal and while I lack talent in the art of whimsical titling, I do not lack desire. In fact, a title is probably the biggest reason why I didn't create a blog 6 months ago. I mean, it's so hard to keep up with the cute young bloggers nowadays! And besides, my title needed to fit my criteria which was
1. Something I feel strongly about
2. Something slightly clever
3. (not actually a requirement but a desire) Something alluding to one of my favorite qoutes
So here I am trying to find something to appease all of my own demands, searching through some of my old favorite quotes for inspiration and finding nothing. Finally I remembered the sign that hangs in our entryway
I thought, "Well I like to laugh and I like to love and I like to live well, although that sounds a bit silly... I can just change it to learn."
So there you have it. My title. My life in three words (four if you count the "and"). Loving, Laughing and Learning. So simple and yet so fulfilling. :)
I look forward to sharing my adventures as I learn, laugh and love, and I hope you do too!
Ta ta for now!
Hopefully my blogging efforts will save my family's ears from incessant rambling since I seem to be a tad more concise when it comes to the written language as opposed to the spoken language. I'm excited to share my thoughts, challenges, discoveries and excitements with you!
I just wanted to start off by explaining why I chose my blog title. I'm not really cute or clever when it comes to naming things. In general I'd rather just call things what they are but "Alita's Blog" felt unoriginal and while I lack talent in the art of whimsical titling, I do not lack desire. In fact, a title is probably the biggest reason why I didn't create a blog 6 months ago. I mean, it's so hard to keep up with the cute young bloggers nowadays! And besides, my title needed to fit my criteria which was
1. Something I feel strongly about
2. Something slightly clever
3. (not actually a requirement but a desire) Something alluding to one of my favorite qoutes
So here I am trying to find something to appease all of my own demands, searching through some of my old favorite quotes for inspiration and finding nothing. Finally I remembered the sign that hangs in our entryway
 | |||||||||||
| "Live Well * Laugh Often * Love Much" |
I thought, "Well I like to laugh and I like to love and I like to live well, although that sounds a bit silly... I can just change it to learn."
So there you have it. My title. My life in three words (four if you count the "and"). Loving, Laughing and Learning. So simple and yet so fulfilling. :)
I look forward to sharing my adventures as I learn, laugh and love, and I hope you do too!
Ta ta for now!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)