Kiana

The past week called for enriching my friendships with the women in my life. Now more than ever, we are bombarded with nefarious criticism from all sides about everything we do, and held to standards based on patriarchal cultural values. Now more than ever, standing with the women in my life seems as crucial as breathing.

After the recent U.S. election, when hope felt the most out of reach, even from my own corner of the world, I read a tweet that said something about women in the U.S. hating each other, along with a glaring chart showing who voted for who. I recall this now, and would like to note that in my experience this division is not a fact exclusive to America, but is also true in my country/island/region/city. Here, the women who are strangers to each other and whom I sit across on jeepneys, the women I walk past by downtown, carry an energy that translates as intolerance for the other. Some days a frown is thrown at me by a middle-aged woman, on days when I’m wearing something that celebrates me. This is also true of the women my own age, where it seems that everyone hates everyone for petty things, ranging from wearing an article of clothing to a particular demeanor.

This is not a sweeping generalization, at all, but a case in my daily life. My mind BOGGLES thinking about this, so using my power I aim to resolve this by nourishing the inner circles I’m a part of, which mostly consists of women. I would like to see all of us someday working toward an inclusive, safe and kind environment where the aspirations of one could liberate, free, and inspire the other.

This is a pact that I choose to shout on the rooftops of the internet in hopes that you, too, will come to see the reality that we are living in and the implications of this on our future and the children to come. (God, I know, I sound like someone vying for a Nobel Prize, but legit…I’m serious and worried, so maybe I’m projecting, but I promise you I will put in work.) Find your women, believe in them, trust them, work for a better tomorrow for and with them. It’s only in doing actual work that we get to reap results. I love you. ♦