Last night on TV on 'Dancing with the Stars' I watched Cory the boxer dancing the fox-trot with Nerida the dancer after being coached by her for a week. After the dance one of the judges made a comment that made me think. She said 'Cory, you need to bring out your feminine side especially in a dance like the foxtrot. There can never be any doubt in our mind that you are a man, so don't hold on to that image so firmly, give expression to your feminine side as well, your soft, elegant side'. Hmmmm… that made me think. How true! How we all struggle so valiantly to put on a brave masculine front, including us women. 'Be brave, be a man', growing, little boys are told as tears well up in their eyes, as if giving vent to their feelings is some crime. And look at us modern women, staunchly and stoically we march, mistakenly thinking that by doing so we are being as strong as men and will somehow be considered equal. Why is giving expression to one's feminine side considered weak? How can softness, gentleness, compassion, giving, expressing one's feelings be a flaw?
While I was going to get lunch today, I happened to run into John, an old friend. When he saw me his face lit up, and I suspect mine lit up too. Some spark was lit, a smile came to my face and if he wasn't rushing to a meeting I would probably have got a hug. And walking down the road under the drab, dreary autumn sky feeling lit up from within, I cannot help thinking how we touch people's lives. Even in the smallest most inconsequential meetings, lives are touched and we are transformed in an instant, if only by a fraction, but transformed we most definitely are.
As I continue walking, I see glimpses of beauty in the commonplace -
Slanting hazel eyes, soft with love.
Naughty, laughing youngsters with not a care in the world, the world at their feet.
Trees happily waving their green-turning-to-yellow branches at the autumn sky.
The sun surprising us with a split-second visit.
Liquid elegance in a Swarovski shop window, crystal tamed into the most astonishingly beautiful shapes.
Elegant curlicues on the facades of old buildings.
And under it all the heart of the city, softly beating, beneath the apparent chaos, in understated harmony.
Today
3 years ago
Yes, dear, what you express is so true. The real strength of a woman is in her femininity. The compassion, the love, the all giving nature... Take the profession of a nurse. It is a true example of the great natural qualities of a woman. A male can never ever be anywhere to a female nurse.
ReplyDeleteWhen we are at peace within, everything external appears so beautiful, so cool. There appears harmony in chaos. And when there is disturbance within, the external too appears so dull, devoid of charm and full of chaos. So there has to be relation between the internal and the external. Which is through the self which expands when there is peace within. You are beautiful within so you see beauty outside...:)))