Today is the International Day of the Girl.
I’m not exactly sure why we have this day, or what dubbing it such will do to improve the welfare of girls around the world, but I love this day!
I was a girl. I have three girls. Girls grow up and become the primary caregivers of the entire of humanity. Girls are pretty damn special! So, in honor of this day, I change my profile pic on Facebook to reflect my cool chic international awareness of this marked day, and it usually stops there.
Have I ever truly celebrated International Day of the Girl?
Nope.
What would that look like if I did?
Would there be Barbies and pink cakes? Definitely not, even though so many girls would love that. Would we go shopping? Definitely not, even though so many girls would love that, too. Would we get our nails done? Nope. Would we sit around and gossip about other girls? Nope. Would we SnapChat our friends endless selfies? Nope. Would we lie on the couch and watch 18 episodes of One Tree Hill? Nope.
None of the above.
What WOULD we do?
We could have a tag sale (pawn those Barbies onto other families) and raise money to send to Haiti. I bet there are lots of girls struggling to get to school after Matthew. We could write Donald Trump a letter, a sincere letter from the heart about how we feel about his locker room talk. We could also make a decision to do nothing but raise up all girls in friendship, even the ones we consider mean girls.
I sit and ponder this at dawn while my littlest one sleeps upstairs across from our newly arrived French exchange student, Clemence – probably the sweetest thing ever. We met her last night for the first time. She traveled here with a group of high school kids, and is now living with us for 10 days. The first time out of her country, she embraced the adventure, even though she suffers from dyslexia and never quite grasped the English language. How Brave!
Maybe today we celebrate this new friendship that crosses the Atlantic Ocean (Clemence and I bonded right away :)).
Whatever we decide to do today, let it be intentional and let it change our own hearts…where change really begins.
Happy International Day of the Girl!
Back to the Trump letters, feel free to write one just to get it out. His language triggered a lot of women I know who have been sexually assaulted. If you would like to send one to him, I’m compiling them (email to sally@almondsandelephants.com).
Here’s mine:
Dear Donald,
I’m so happy you were caught on tape denigrating and objectifying women because now we can all openly talk about how we feel. I listened to you talk and thought, “What an idiot.” I felt sorry for you. I wasn’t triggered into anger because I spent my whole life angry at men who had assaulted me, and realized much too late in life that it was a waste of my time. Not only had these men disrupted my life trajectory by deciding to objectify and assault me, but they had disrupted it again because I spent too much time in therapy trying to get over the shame, guilt and anger I suffered as a result.
Thank God I’ve been able to process it all and forgive the men who could only think of themselves and their own sexual appetites. Thank God I see those men for who they really are.
Self-absorbed men.
I pray for you, Donald.
May you find a way out of your own way.
