international women’s day

men and women give to gain…

Today a friend invited me to hike along a new park trail in Carmel Indiana. Together, he and I walked a beautiful pre-spring trail covering a round trip of about 5 miles along the White River (The White River is 362 miles [583 km] long and in 1997 was listed as one of the United States’ most threatened rivers due to pollution).

When I asked him if he minded me bringing along my litter tools, he embraced it. He was patient whenever I asked him to stop his progress in order to wait for me as I diverged into a bramble of twigs to grab some rubbish.

In this reflection, I want to share how very grateful I am to men who respect, support, and encourage women to be strong, passionate, and independent.

As I continue learning about the struggles and challenges women throughout history have encountered and endured, I honor them by following in their footsteps - speaking, writing, voting, creating, and doing - with actions that make a difference. [There is more to come from this woman, so stay tuned!]

In the meantime, I equally celebrate the men in history who have fought beside us and for the men today who continue to raise and/or hold up the women in their lives. In both small and big ways, recognizing and valuing gender equality makes a difference. Sidenote trivia: In my lifetime, women legally had to get permission from a man - their husband, father, guardian - to obtain any credit for a loan (circa 1970s)!

Divided we fail - together we give to gain.

*Today, together, two people kept 3.7 pounds of litter out of our planet’s waterways. I might be a Quixote-of-a-woman, but I wear my shadow with pride and appreciate those at my side.

My shadow and a bag of collected rubbish.

*If you’d like to support my work, please donate here.