Dispatches from the 148 by Fred Ryan
This doesn’t mean beautiful in all respects – sometimes it’s her eyes, smile, the tone of her voice, or the gracefulness of her hand. Each woman, like each man, is different; every person has a unique set of
qualities – and beauties. If we look.
Dispatches from the 148 by Fred Ryan
This doesn’t mean beautiful in all respects – sometimes it’s her eyes, smile, the tone of her voice, or the gracefulness of her hand. Each woman, like each man, is different; every person has a unique set of
qualities – and beauties. If we look.
The point is that every Pontiac woman – even the lady angry as hell a few months ago about one of my columns – is beautiful, and we all
benefit. As each woman ages, from a grand-daughter growing to an elder slowing down, their beauties change and rarely disappear.
Physical beauty is not everything. We also seek out intelligence, good-naturedness, compassion and empathy, self-
assurance and self-confidence. We look for good judgement and creativity, a mixture of carefulness and also of abandon. We admire the woman in touch with her deepest emotions, not just the surface of smiles and frowns.
Look around . . . anywhere in the Pontiac. Look at the roles women are playing. This newspaper – one editor, the
manager, the co-publishers, and much of the staff, not to mention past
editors, managers and sales people – accomplished, capable women. Look at all parts of our big community, from mayors, municipal councils and their staffs, look at all the professionals, the women working in the arts, those powering our business community – from the SADC to the Chamber of Commerce – women are the giants making our region function, grow, and mature. Most of all, look at the mothers and grand-mothers, the sisters, daughters, aunts, all enriching our community in innumerable ways. All this is the beauty of women.
And it is what Pontiac is fortunate to enjoy, one of our positives.
Nor can we dismiss the role of men in the Pontiac. Men work hard and long, but we often get ourselves trapped, flailing against the elements, or against destiny or chance – while it is the women who keep our daily universe moving and working. Women
provide the base upon which everything else turns and plays itself out, sweeping women along as well as men, allowing women as well as men
to pursue and realize
their own ambitions and responsibilities.
Equality of opportunity is our society’s goal, and one we have achieved in part out of necessity – and because “it’s 2016”.
This is still about
beauty. Beauty is more than graceful eyebrows or a generous smile; it can
be almost invisible, representing deeper things. In seeing all women as
beautiful, we see every woman, young to mature, as a manifestation of
the feminine principle or force in the world. Women have possessed a force, long before Star Wars came along.
Every woman from Rapides to Breckenridge carries within her this
manifestation – she makes manifest the Feminine in the world, simply that. See her this way, and we’ll see beauty.
This means more than almond eyebrows, something more far-reaching that appeals to our hearts as well as to our minds, something that appeals to our hungers to be whole, whole beings. Besides manifesting the Feminine Principle, every individual woman seeks a completeness, a wholeness, which comes from those around her, from the members of her family to the neighbours on her street or road. We all seek this wholeness, this union with others, and we see it in the woman around us, day after day. Women make this wholeness real, another part of their beauty.
How fortunate are we, Pontiac men and women!
. . . which is my way of saying Happy Valentines Day, 2016!
