The Gals Came Marching Group By Group–Now What?

photograph by Caroline Cunningham
photograph by Caroline Cunningham

The women’s march on Saturday, in Washington D.C. and many places around the world, was indeed a statement.

The purpose? To present a face for the issues women must deal with. Challenges that are uniquely ours.

The problem? Many conservatives saw it as exclusive. A way to push forward the liberal position.

The reality? They’re right.

I don’t agree with their whole agenda. The ones who got the most media attention aren’t the hills I’d necessarily die on. But the issues are far greater than the few points the media wants to highlight.

photograph by Caroline Cunningham
photograph by Caroline Cunningham

The march pointed out the problem of injustice in our country. Laws, decrees, agendas won’t change that.We naturally want what we each want.

Not all women want the same things.

Were all women’s issues addressed?

Not even close.

I listened to actresses talk about equality that our new President hasn’t recognized. Equal pay for equal jobs.

That hasn’t happened through any of the recent presidents.

Granted, many of these women believed this would be the inauguration of the first woman president.

It wasn’t.

I’m all for women needing to be seen as equal. For equal respect for work and efforts put forth. Equal pay is part of that.

photograph by Haley Garrison Phillips
photograph by Haley Garrison Phillips

Going all bad on our new President doesn’t help any of us moving forward. It makes everything more divisive.

After every election, there are people who are angry and afraid. Afraid that what they want, believe or value won’t be respected. Afraid they’ll no longer have a voice in a government that’s supposed to be for the people.

“We march today for the moral core of this nation, against which our new President is waging a war,” actress America Ferrera told the crowd. “Our dignity, our character, our rights have all been under attack and a platform of hate and division assumed power yesterday.”

That’s not true.

There are those who disagreed with the issues the marchers were rallying for. Many who felt the disrespect from these women who wouldn’t tolerate their viewpoints.

This isn’t an issue of who’s right and who’s wrong. We’re all wrong at some level

This is an issue of love, kindness and cooperation. Not defined by militant disrespect, but by seeing others as more important ss-170120-andres-kudacki-protests-01_8c2ead92147b01c6ba3453f3eef50e61-nbcnews-ux-1024-900than ourselves.

It’s a God issue.

Our moral core is skewed. We all want what we think is right. In our eyes. But with different stories, we don’t see where others are coming from.

We see ourselves. We demand our rights based on what we want to be right.

If we were to base our decisions on a moral code, we’d do it from one that doesn’t select any one group or gender–we’d see the need for an absolute moral code that takes everyone into account. Not just a few.

We’re broken people living in a broken world. Frankly, the enemy of our souls wins when we fight each other instead of standing for truth and goodness.

Until we recognize the need for individual changes within our own hearts, a willingness to see people as all created in the image of God, we’ll see divisions and anger.

Marches and criticism don’t change people.

God does.

2 responses to “The Gals Came Marching Group By Group–Now What?”

  1. If only we could all live by the simple, “Golden Rule”, we’d have a better chance of understanding others positions. When people get all riled up over DT getting upset when he is criticized, and more often than not, rightly so, if they took even a second to put themselves in his shoes, they might think twice before reacting. What a mess we are in and the media is in part, exacerbating the problem!

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    1. I can’t imagine it’s easy being President. Especially if you’ve not been privy to the insiders look at politics. I agree with you–if we would just listen instead of yelling, think through the ramifications of our words and attitudes (DT should do this as well), we might actually begin to move forward. God has allowed him to lead us now. If we can’t agree on what He might want us to become as believers, we’ve got bigger problems to deal with. Thanks for the insights, Gail. I appreciate your words.

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