Disclosure: This post was inspired by the novel The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, where Monsieur Perdu--a literary apothecary--finally searches for the woman who left him many years ago.. Join From Left to Write on October 8th as we discuss The Little Paris Bookshop. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.
We all know that women are strong, strong willed, and stubborn. I know this as a fact because that describes me. Those three attributes are not always considered to be an attractive or needed quality for a woman. We're the weaker sex, we should be submissive, quiet, recalcitrant. As women we sometimes fake those attributes in order to survive and prosper in this world.
This post was going to be about all the great things that women do for others, especially their children, but I deleted everything I had written after this because today I read something that really brought home the strength and courage of a woman and I think a lot of what is in that women is in all of us.
On Facebook, I follow HUMANS OF NEW YORK or HONY. HONY was started in 2010 by a fellow named Brandon who thought it would be cool to start photographing people in the streets of New York. He was going to photograph 10,000 people and plot their photos on a map.
Brandon didn't know what he had started, never dreamed where he would go, never imagined what HONY would mean to his life and the life of the over 10 million followers that he has worldwide!
He's traveled and documented photos all over the world. Photos that make us laugh and photos that make us cry. Photos that prompt us to realize that we can make a difference in someones life other than our own.
Currently Brandon is sharing his Humans of New York Refugee Stories. During a time when our country is horribly divided because of refugees here in our own country, he is showing us why refugees and immigrants seek to escape the countries they come from. It's gut wrenching and the photos and stories are not for the faint of heart, even the toughest of people read these stories and look at these pictures with tears in their eyes.
The photo that I want to share today and the story that goes with it shows just how strong women are, how selfless, how protective.
Here is the story that goes with it...
This mother, this woman...the heartbreak she must have endured to send her beloved child out alone in the world. How does she sleep at night. How does she eat even a morsel of food knowing that her child is out there and not knowing if he is eating? I can't even imagine!
But she didn't think of herself, she thought only of him and of saving him. So many women do the same thing.
In the book The Little Paris Bookshop, Manon, the love interest of Jean Perdu becomes pregnant while ill with Cancer and she doesn't tell anyone until it is too late to make a difference. She died so her daughter could live.
Woman may be strong, strong willed and stubborn because it's the attributes we need to face the challenges that life brings so us.
Inner strength is hard to teach someone. Im not sure how we 'aquire' it or if we are just born with it. I recently reread a very interesting, First Mothers, The Women Who Shaped the President and it talked about what the presidents from FDR to George W Bush had in common: their mothers all faced terrible adversity and showed their sons how to rise up with resiliency. All of the families faced hard tines whether financial or medical or deaths and not all of the fathers were able to handle it, but the mothers all did and then passed that onto their sons. I wrote about the book in two blog posts. In case you are interested the first piece can be found at: http://www.theartoflivingfully.com/first-mothers-review-part-i/
ReplyDeleteI have been wanting to read that book! Several people have recommended it to me and it's on my to-read list. I'll definitely go and check out your blog posts. I don't know what gives women the strength to carry one and to never give up, but I'm glad that we have the strength, we definitely need it! Thanks for commenting :)
DeleteI've been following his series about the Syrian refugees. I'm glad that he's sharing their stories--we need to hear them.
ReplyDeleteI've been following them too. We are so clueless to what so many of these refugees suffer. I hope some good comes of what Brandon is doing.
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