Influential Women in My Life

I have seen many posts this past month on the importance of various women.  It has made me think about some women who have been very important to me.  Obviously, my mother and my grandmothers were a major influence.  I think I could write an entire book about them.  I also enjoyed my mother-in-law and appreciated talking with her.  But, I would like to give some credit to a few others also.

Aunt Ruth W—was an example of a highly intelligent woman who made her way in what was at the time a man’s world.  During World War II, she advanced to a position normally held by a man with the Bethlehem Steel Company.  When they tried to “demote” her after the war, she stood her ground and retained the position.  When feminism emerged, the company realized they did not have many female executives and wanted to promote her, but that would have required a move to the corporate office in another state.  She wasn’t open to the idea of moving at that point in her life.  She was an assertive personality, cultured and inquisitive.  She was very kind to me.  I loved going downtown to visit her at her office and going out for lunch in a local “tearoom.”

Gertrude M—a rather formidable woman who rarely smiled.  She had prior to marriage been part of the YWCA movement.  She attended the church we began to attend when I was six years old.  She directed the camp I attended every summer.  She saw to it that we memorized a Psalm every summer at camp.  She made me a senior counselor responsible for a group of the youngest girls and had me teaching them the Bible lessons when I was only 15.  That had a big impact on my life and belief in what I could do.

Edna H—was my Pioneer Girl Pal.  She gave me loving attention over several years.  I knew I always had someone on my side.

Mary P—an extraordinarily sweet and kind lady who was my Sunday School teacher at some point in my teen years.  She provided her basement as a meeting place for a Bible Club after school during my teen years also.  I always enjoyed talking with her.

June R—a pastor’s wife at the point where I was making important decisions in my life.  She influenced my choice of nursing school and college.  I babysat for her small children.  She and her husband would bring me books from the Christian bookstore to pay for my babysitting as I didn’t want to take money from them, and I didn’t get many opportunities to go to the Christian bookstore.

Edith L—a “mother” away from home while I was in nursing school.  I could drop in at her home pretty much anytime and feel welcomed.  She gave wise counsel and prayed for me.  She is nearly 100 years old and is still declaring the message of Christ by leading a Bible study in her nursing home.

Louise N—another “mother” while I was in college.  I cleaned her house to pay for my room one year, and this afforded many chances for conversation during which she shared from her heart concerning some of her life experiences.  She prayed for me for years after I graduated from college.

I have never wanted to be exactly like any woman I have known.  During my teen years, I remember one of my close friends saying she wanted to be just like a certain woman in our church.  I was actually a bit puzzled by this, as I couldn’t think of anyone I wanted to be exactly like.

After my Mother’s funeral service at which she had been justifiably highly praised, someone said to me, “Well…you’re never going to live up to that!”  I thought it was a careless thing for her to say and would have hurt most daughters who were about to bury their mother.  I actually found it a bit amusing. 

As much as I adored my Mother, I never expected to be just like her.  God makes each of us uniquely, and we each have a purpose we need to fulfill.  My job is not to be like anyone else, but to be who God made me to be.

I do think most women are sweeter than I am, and they clearly tolerate women’s meetings where the discussion rambles down all sorts of side roads better than I do!  But, sometimes having a brain that charges down the tracks toward the station like a freight train is helpful.  I hope my granddaughters grow up knowing that it’s okay to be atypical.  I pray they will find God’s special path for them.

Follow the Science

We have heard a lot in recent days about “following the science.”  This is something that Biden et al have pledged to do.  The problem is that they are only following the science when it fits their agenda.  We are told we must follow the science related to COVID…even though some of it is pretty tentative at this point.  This has been a new situation with many unknowns.  We don’t always know if we are following the science or if the experts are making their best guess.  On the other hand, there is some definitive science being ignored by these same people.

We know that having cosmetic surgery to make one’s ears pointy does not change that person into an elf.

We know that having a face lift and Botox injections to make one’s face look younger does not make one’s internal organs younger.

We know that wearing blackface does not make one a black person…to say nothing of the fact that it is currently an anathema.

Why does anyone think that having his Adam’s apple shaved, male genitalia removed and taking hormones will make one female?  The science is that every cell in that person’s body screams MALE.

Similarly, how can taking hormones, binding or removing breasts, and having female genitalia altered cause one to actually become male?  Every one of the trillions of cells in the body still contains XX chromosomes.

The LGBTQ community has in recent years gained enormous power and influence.  They have caused people who can’t think about the science clearly to believe that they must be accommodated.  I have lived long enough to remember when individuals with these inclinations were classified as having a mental health issue.  If your brain is telling you something that doesn’t fit with the reality of your anatomy, there is a problem.  This is not old-fashioned erroneous thinking.  This is factual and scientific.

These individuals should be loved and cared for as anyone is, but we are doing them a disservice if we allow them to think that the disjoint between the mental and physical is normal.  I would propose that, the suicide rate and mental health issues these folks experience is not just a result of not being accepted by others for who they believe themselves to be.  It results from a deep and inescapable realization that they themselves can’t accept who they are believing themselves to be.  They need our love and support.  What they don’t need is a pat on the back….Great!  Just go out there and be whoever.  They are dying inside.  They are searching and what they desire is always just beyond their grasp.

Most of them do not realize that they are looking for God.  No human love brings fulfillment.  You can alter your physical appearance, but your spirit will still yearn for something more.

The Dr. Seuss Controversy

I have been thinking about the recent controversy over six Dr. Seuss books.  From what I can tell, the supposed problem is not with the text, but with the illustrations. 

Let’s talk about Dr. Seuss illustrations.  Are any of them an accurate portrayal of the person or animal they represent?  No…many of them are downright bizarre.  Many are caricatures.  The whole point is to over-emphasize some feature.  Others are fanciful…they look like nothing you will ever see in real life.  Vehicles portrayed are mechanically impossible.  Buildings defy gravity.  Any child who is looking at the pictures while the book is being read is going to understand that what is illustrated is not the real world.  If he or she doesn’t, there is a serious issue.

So, one of the offending books has an Asian man with chopsticks.  He has slanty eyes.  Ummmm…..lots of Asian people do have slanty eyes due to the extra fatty pad over the eye.  Guess what?  Some of my Caucasian/white family members have this same fatty pad and Asian looking eyes.  When I inquired about this characteristic, I was told, “Your Grandpa used to say that when the Mongol hordes invaded Europe, someone in the family got mixed up with them.”  Did this cause me to feel prejudice against my family members or the Mongol hordes or to be offended by pictures of slanty eyed folk.  No…it is an amusing and perhaps fanciful tale.

If this type of illustration causes offense, what about the caricatures of Obama with enormous ears…or Trump with the shock of orange hair drooping over his eyes.  How do we dare chuckle at that?  Why isn’t PETA offended by the appearance of the cat in The Cat in the Hat?

Somebody got way too “woke,” in my opinion.  I am not buying the notion that this was the family’s decision either.  Just who is “the family” of Ted Geisel?  Geisel had no children with his first wife.  After her death, he remarried a woman (Audrey) who had two children.  She divorced her husband to marry Geisel and sent her two daughters off to boarding school.  She was known to say that Geisel was not comfortable around children….there’s an irony.  Audrey was left in charge of his estate, but she is now deceased.  I have been unable to determine if the two stepchildren are in control or just who “the family” is.  The person in charge of Dr. Seuss Enterprises is not a family member.

There is so much in this world that should genuinely be offensive.  Our kids see absolute filth during prime time viewing hours on television.  They have access to books that are total trash.  The lyrics of some of the music young people listen to are vile…to say nothing of the illustrations on the covers of hard copies or the videos of this music that are readily obtained online.  Where is the outrage and soul searching about these foul mental images?

Have we lost our collective mind?

Or…perhaps…

My husband has cynically expressed that the whole Dr. Seuss thing is a marketing ploy.  I just looked up top selling children’s books on Amazon and Dr. Seuss books are 15 of the top 20.  Maybe this has more to do with pumping up sales than genuine concern about people’s feelings.  Perhaps they had some inventory they needed to unload.  News this morning is that vintage copies of the six “offending” books were selling for so much, that eBay suspended their sale.

Oh, well…maybe just an unintended consequence of what began as altruism?  It would not be the first time that what began as an honest attempt to do “the right thing” went a bit too far and stepped off the edge onto the slippery slope.