Roses

I was on a walk today. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, the air smelled fresh and clean. For a few short minutes, I forgot I live in LA. It was beautiful.

While on my walk I was aware of flowers in bloom (I mean it. I have hay-fever...I think I sneezed a total of 30+ times). As I walked I thought about these little flowers as I thought about life.

In particular, I thought about these bloomin' beauties:

roses

I warn you now that I am about to draw yet another analogy from these metaphorically friendly little plants. I have never considered the rose a particularly beautiful plant, but today, they were exquisite. They caught my eye and I thought how often I've overlooked and underestimated the beauty of a single rose. 

Then I thought, "How often have I done that in life?"

Then I came up with my rose analogy: Life is like running through a bed of roses. In the thick of running through, every once and a while you notice the beauty around you...but mostly you notice the thorns. You run faster, hoping to get to the end. Once you're there however, the pain quickly fades and, looking back, you more clearly see the beauty of the roses.  

I've had my share of running through the roses. Today I made the pledge to take a little more time to admire the beauty of the current moment.

a hypothetical me enjoying the beauty of the moment

a purpose

"I am so thoroughly convinced that if we don’t set goals in our life and learn how to master the techniques of living to reach our goals, we can reach a ripe old age and look back on our life only to see that we reached but a small part of our potential. When one learns to master the principles of setting a goal, he will then be able to make a great difference in the results he attains in this life”

-Elder M. Russell Ballard    

i love this quote! i am someone who would goal themselves right up to the end of their days. however, i am not always as productive as I would like to be...and that's my explanation as to why i'm posting over a month after my last post. oh well.  

enough of my lollgaggin, i got on here with a purpose! i wanted to type my own reflections on this article, and correspondingly with this blog post. i know mine is just a weak voice of support (and one that feels like they trip over their own words), but this article is important to me. 

i remember when i was a little girl fighting with my mom about the inequalities of being a woman (of course, these all centered around the fact i was not allowed to go on boy-scout camp outs with my brothers and the fact that i had to wear skirts, oh the indecencies!). i was this girl:

 in my few short years of experience beyond childhood i have found out something which i never before would have supposed; to be a woman is wonderful. there is joy in womanhood. i am proud to be a woman. i became this girl:

this article, but more so the response to it, makes me sad. i think of a quote from a book i've been reading ("gift of the sea" by anne morrow lindbergh). here the author is speaking of the progress women have seen in matters of equality in the last century: 

"Certainly in America, our live are easier, freer, more open to opportunities, thanks-among other things-to the Feminist battles. The room of one's own, the hour alone are now more possible in a wider economic class than ever before. But these hard-won prizes are insufficient because we have not yet learned how to use them."

our nature to nurture is not a sign of weakness, and i wish women could take confidence in that. it is wonderful to be gentle, it is wonderful to be feminine. the world needs more women who value the virtues of womanhood.

call me old fashioned, but i'm happy to be a woman.

the end