Heroes

I realized the other day that I’m very likely to utter the phrase “You’re my hero,” but that it is almost always directed at a woman.   I was thinking about that, and I think I figured out why that is.   It all goes back to this quote:

Remember, Ginger Rogers did everything Fred Astaire did, except backwards and in high heels.

My sisters, my mother, my grandmothers, my aunts, my friends.   All a bunch of women who’ve done a series of ordinary, unexceptional things . . . aside from the fact that they did the things that someone thought they couldn’t, shouldn’t, or wouldn’t do.

They served their country.
They wore pants (or trousers if you’re in England).
They bought houses.
They got doctorate degrees.
They raised children on their own.
They majored in computer science in college.
They played in rock bands.
They owned businesses.
They played sports.
They got tattoos.
They climbed rocks.
They spoke their mind.
They changed their own flat tires.
They stood up for what they believed in.
They built websites.
They built sets.

And they did thousands of other small things that said to the world, “I will be who I am.  I will do what I see fit to do.  I will take care of myself.  And you . . . you will not ever constrict me to some narrow idea of who and what I should be based solely on the fact that I happen to be a woman!”

And mostly, they did it without thinking that anyone would ever notice, let alone feel the need to point it out to the rest of the world.

So I like to tell them about it.

And if you’re a guy, and it makes you jealous to hear me say it to another woman, but not to you . . . well, I have two things to say about that . . .

#1 – Insecure much?

-and-

#2 – Suck it up!

Just sayin’.

Author: peggyluwho

What do you want to know? I'm a California native, and right now, I live 6 miles from where I was born. I'm single. I'm a feminist. View all posts by peggyluwho