Love Your Tree

I saw this quote today and it made me happy.

"You are sublimely, exactly how you need to be at this moment."

In an interview I once watched, Eve Ensler, a famous feminist and playwrite was explaining one of her adventures. She had been traveling all over the globe and was asking women if they loved their bodys. She was in Africa, sitting next to a woman in her sixties that very same question. Her response was this:

Woman: "Do I like my body? Do I like my body? My body. My body. I love my body. God made this body. God gave me this body. My body. My body. Oh goodness, I love my body. My fingers, look at my fingers. I love my fingernails, little crescent moons. My hands, my hands, the way they flutter in the air and fall, they lead right up to my armsso strongthey carry things alongI love my armsand my legs, my legs are long, so long, Masai people, we are tall, I get there fast!"

Eve: "Wait, I don't know how to do this. I want to feel like you. I want to love my body and stop hating my stomach."

Woman: "What's wrong with it?"

Eve: "It's round. It used to be flat."

Woman: "It's your stomach. Its meant to be seen. Eve, look at that tree? Do you see that tree? Now look at that tree. (Points to another tree) Do you like that tree? Do you hate that tree cause it doesn't look like that tree? Do you say that tree isn't pretty cause it doesn't look like that tree? We're all trees. You're a tree. I'm a tree. You've got to love your body, Eve. You've got to love your tree."

Eve went on to make a very good point. She said that in Afghanistan, it is forbidden for women to eat ice cream. Eating ice cream is apparently considered sexual, therefore women are not allowed to. However, they eat it anyways in secret ice cream eating places. It struck Eve as odd, because here, these woman are literally not allowed to eat ice cream, and yet they do. In America, woman all have the freedom to eat ice cream, but we don't anyways because our culture idolizes extremely thin women.

It makes me so sad that our culture is like this. It makes women feel so inferior, advertising a body image that is simply physically impossible. Tall, blonde, thin, large chested. It's exactly why the advertising is so successful- It's simply impossible to have.

Today, if you watch some television, you'll find now that platic surgery and botox are simply considered the norm for makeovers. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm all for someone improving self image. I'm not suggesting that we all go out and burn our bras. What our culture doesn't seem to realize though, is that women are risking major surgery and injecting poisons (literally what botox is) into themselves so they can look a bit more like the cover of a magazine. This is major stuff!

Models are freaks of nature!!!

I'm not exactly sure if I have a definite point to all of this. I'm not saying that I am completely happy with the way I look either. I wish I was graceful, I'd like to be taller, look slimmer, and that my hair was auburn and not so blonde it looks invisible at times. But I'm trying to work on accepting, and being happy with what God gave me. Trying to see that some of the things that aren't considered 'in' in our culture are the very same things that make me special. The bump on my nose, my short 'polish peasant' fingers and toes are all things combined to make one me.

Ta da!

And one thing that I'd have to say transends all of these things, things much sexier than long legs or big boobs- confidence. And thats something that we can all achieve.

Until Later,

Sondra