These days, a lot is being said and done about empowering women. Every where you look, you'll find videos, magazine articles, or blog articles about what we need to do to raise our daughters to be strong women. There is all kinds of advice about building self esteem. There are nation wide programs for young girls. I just hope it helps, because some things need to change.
I wish there had been some sort of movement like that for her:
This is my grandmother. I think she's beautiful! She never thought so. In fact, many of the pictures that I have of her, she had written on the back---"ugly Jennie." It breaks my heart that she never thought she was attractive. She was from a large family---eight children. She quit school after the 3rd grade to help on the farm---basically, she raised the younger kids. She was kind, generous, loving and never said a bad word about anybody. She was also bossy and freely gave advice---whether asked for or not. I like to think that I am a lot like her---at least I'm the bossy part for sure!
This is her at 32. People in the old days just looked older to me. She never smiled in pictures. I hope she just wasn't sad all the time. I would hate to think she lived her life unhappily. She found solace in her faith and passed that on to her children. She was very important to me. I still miss her.
I do hope that the changes taking place for girls today really work so that everyone feels good about themselves and realizes that there are much more important things than an outward appearance. Those things need to change!
Someone must have called her that when she was little and she believed it. She is beautiful. She has such good bone structure. I bet she never smiled because she didn't like her teeth. My granny hated her teeth so she rarely smiled in pictures until she had all her teeth removed and wore dentures. So many women have their self esteem destroyed by unkind remarks.
ReplyDeleteI have been asking and shouting for equality since I was 19 and learned that because I was married I was expected to accept that I should be on my husband's passport because as a woman I didn't need my own. Then at 25 I needed major surgery and the hospital told me that I could not sign the consent form myself, my husband had to do it and if I didn't have a husband then my father would have to sign. I kicked up such a fuss and called my friend from school who had just graduated from university where she had read law and she wrote a letter to the hospital and they let me sign to say they could do the operation. That was 1971. Hard to believe that women were considered to be the property of their father or their husband. I am sorry to say that things have not got much better even now and we still do not have equality of pay in this country even though the law was passed years ago.
I'll climb down off my soap box now
She was lovely! My Grandma was a very independent and confident person from a young age. When she & my biological grandfather divorced (because he was running around on here), she didn't ask for any child support because she didn't want to lose custody of Daddy (who was still a baby). She raised him & re-married and life such a full life until she couldn't in her old age. My Mama stayed home & raised us girls because that's all she ever wanted to do, so I grew up knowing I could do whatever I wanted. It sad to read that someone so beautiful thought she was ugly, but that's truly the power of words & we would do well to remember that with children of all ages!
ReplyDeleteI'm catching up today and just had to stop at this post and say that I think she was beautiful too. A face full of poise and grace. I hope she did have some good times because it certainly sounds as if she deserved them.
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