It seems to me that in recent months, a single theme has dominated almost every conversation I've had with my 60-something women friends: we feel invisible. This goes way beyond wanting to look nice and get noticed on the street (to the extent to which any of us ever really wanted that in the first place). This is about the utter frustration (and at times, depression) of simply not being listened to, not being heard, not being seen, not feeling that anyone sees us as relevant. This is about there being immediate pushback or contradiction when we are heard. And this is about feeling like we have no control over the direction our world is taking. Increasingly, I feel like I've landed on a foreign planet, and am looking out on a landscape that reflects virtually none of my values. None. I don't "get" business or the profit motive. I don't "get" corruption or crime. I don't "get" skyscrapers and artificial intelligence and constant growth. I don't "get" war and violence and fracking. I don't "get" not treating every human being, animal and corner of the earth with some basic measure of decency. I don't "get" shoddiness and cutting corners and some people being obscenely rich and others obscenely poor. But that's the whole point, isn't it? Even my own wording reflects how I still buy into the self-sabotage of assuming there's a norm in place, and something is wrong with my inability to fit into it. I think I've said all this before; forgive me. Every day brings even more to "not get."
Having said that, 61 is great, because from time to time, I have the courage to say, "Wait one second here. I have a genius IQ. The problem isn't that I don't 'get' certain things. It's that I do 'get' them. I 'get' them all right, and see right through them."
Maybe it's because I finally do "get it," that I just don't seem to be able to do it any more, hold up my potentially impressive 21st century resume, and nervously approach an institution and say, "Please, sir, please may I humbly ask you to consider using my skills. May I have my little morsel of attention or pay or benefits?" It's time for the world to come to us, to women, and respectfully. To see us and seek out our extraordinary wisdom. Most of us have been consistently out here exemplifying values of life-giving beauty and integrity and healing and kindness and sharing and restraint. Lordy, we have done so little harm. We haven't been "gotten," that's for sure; we've been invisible and trampled underfoot, but we are still here. And Mother Earth needs us now more than ever. Every day that I allow myself slightly more visibility is a successful one for me -- and for her.
Yeah, I'm sure I've said most of this before, but I couldn't find where, so it bears repeating...
