On the Plight of Women

Sparked by conversations about how we women try to rationalize others' negative actions against us...

 We
sustain ourselves on the happiness of others
while denying our own inherent right to felicity
because we fear the label 
selfish,
oblige ourselves as nurses and therapists 
while neglecting our own inner turmoil 
because we fear the chastisement 
of a baser instinct 
called self-preservation. 
We 
rationalize the wrong others subject us to,
try to measure the good against the bad
on an uneven scale,
drown out the perversion of truths that constantly
tumble from the lips of our beneficiaries
with the white noise of false hope.

We live symbiotic lives,
joined to those we delude ourselves into believing 
cannot survive without us,
when in reality 
we must learn to live without them,
for they are not symbiotes 
but parasites
draining our lifeblood,
leaving us as shells of our former selves.
There is no mutualism 
between the remora and the shark.
We portray a semblance of synergy 
that is transparent to everyone 
but ourselves,
but are quick to 
point out the false oasis 
in someone else's mirage. 

In this we are united.

We are our sisters' mirrors,
a reflection of their inner hopes,
deepest insecurities, 
tormented passions.
Our duty lies in
revealing the truth of their beauty, 
the foundation of their strength,
the source of their wisdom 
and we
must view each other as proponents
instead of rivals.
We cannot exist without each other. 

So to my sisters I say
that your plight is not your own, 
but all of ours.
We share the same destiny,
to be free of the trappings of 
misguided love, 
and toxic relationships.
Lay your burdens down with mine
and we shall remake ourselves
in our own image.