Today, as
we, the lovely ladies across the world come together to celebrate ‘Woman’s Day’,
thoughts are rushing up in my mind like a gamut of mixed emotions. Reflecting
and analyzing further the emotions created by the thoughts gives me a feeling of power
and beauty both together and in equality. Power,
which means authority and an ability to control things, a left-brain function,
is basically masculine in nature whereas emotions and feelings, expression of
inner being, a right – brain function, is so feminine in nature. Thus word
‘WOMAN’ itself is a combination of masculine and feminine characteristics.
Our
Indian mythology and culture has always portrayed and worshiped the importance
of ‘Woman’ in the form of ‘SHAKTI’ since the beginning. SHAKTI – as the name suggests,
has always been empowering, inspiring and facilitating mankind since
generations as a mother, sister, wife, friend, beloved, teacher and counselor and this is a known fact since ages.
I would
like to share a beautiful quote that I happened to read in the last few days. "The
world in the past has been ruled by force, and man has dominated over woman by
reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind. But
the balance is already shifting; force is losing its dominance, and mental
alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which
woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy. Hence the new age will be an age -
less masculine and more permeated with the feminine ideals, or, to speak more exactly,
will be an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization
will be more evenly balanced." - Abdu'l-Baha
As I read
this quote, an instant reaction which popped up my mind was – this is the real
meaning of “WOMAN DAY – it is a WO-MAN’s DAY”. A day which should be celebrated
not only by the lovely ladies but also by the generous gentlemen, who, in the
last few decades have adapted to a few characteristics of their female
counterparts. Being an educator, everyday I get to observe this winds of change
where Daddy’s are also balancing their roles right from changing diapers to
dropping children at the school to attending PTMs and what not !!!
I believe that the real
essence of Woman’s Day is not about celebrating being a woman but about
celebrating the strengths and virtue of feminine character. On this Woman’s
Day, let us come together to celebrate liberation in thoughts and strength in
our nature as women rather than running the race to prove that we are equal to
men. Because - being feminine in nature and thoughts is the greatest attribute that can serve mankind and it can
be achieved by anyone with a gentle heart J
