Wendy and I are really enjoying encouraging you on our blog site.
There is no end to women using their voices for good to help others. These include women from today and yesterday. We hope you feel inspired, as we do by the stories of our female pioneers and women of intellect, courage and beauty. There is no shortage of inspiring women!
Your voice is a very important. With it, you have power to lead others to weep or smile. Whether the ‘voice’ is spoken or written, it stirs emotions. Your voices reveal who and what you are. Your voice reflects your inner self.
Let us inspire each other, find the good in each other, in our everyday lives. You never know who your voice touches, or who you can inspire, just with a few kind words or actions. Kindness matters. Use your voice for good.
Voices for Good Support other Women
Thus I am saddened when I hear voices of spite, voices of negativity and even hatred. A few people make it their mission to destroy and stomp on others. They deny them, and drown, or crush the voices of those who do not dance to their beat, or fit their narrative.
It makes them feel better somehow. Women do this to other women. What happened to sisterhood? Use your voice for good. Support other women.
Don’t be Cannibals
Our pioneers, the suffragettes fought together for the common good of equality and fairness. Why now turn on each other like cannibals?
Examples abound in modern life of the female in attack-mode. Those in politics or other public platforms who dare to espouse a conservative narrative receive death threats and abuse from other female political opponents.
Twitter abounds with hatred for others. Even young children of Twitter ‘victims’ receive death threats. Voices of hatred in action. Not voices raised for good.
Good Voices Won’t Start Wars
Women have always been complicated animals. Multitasking creatures who nurture and provide for their families. They have so much to give. Women are less single focused than men who originally had to concentrate all their energy on killing a beast for dinner.
Male and female brains are physically different, enabling this sharing of tasks. Women can do anything and more than a man. There are no limitations for women like there were 100 years ago.
Men start wars, big, nasty global wars that kill millions and usually achieve nothing. Males are aggressors. Women are the agents of peace and fairness. They are natural nurturers.
Be kind, be fair. Don’t start wars, even small, local, female ones. Use your voice for good.
Raise your Voices for Good
While researching another amazing woman, well, really two, who together achieved so much, I came across an article written by someone as shocked as me. People use voices to destroy others.
Rumors started by some unhappy soul denounced the achievements of Helen Keller. Helen was a deaf and blind person who, with the help of Anne Sullivan, her teacher, also blind, achieved so much.
Other parts of young Helen’s body and mind stepped in to compensate for her disabilities. Helen, in a world of silent darkness, tuned her other senses, and they went into overdrive. Once she could communicate, she was off and there seemed no stopping her.
Helen learnt to speak, read Braille, wrote books, studied languages and much, much more. She met presidents, campaigned for reform and left a legacy of achievements. Helen used her voice, once she found it, for good. She raised awareness for the disabled and help other blind children.
No Limitations
However, Helen’s detractors, from ignorance and the distance of time, claim she could not have done all this. How they think they are experts on this matter, I do not know. Because their focus is limited, they want to limit others. It does not suit their narrative to have a disabled person overachieve. Disabilities did not define who Helen Keller was.
If a blind, deaf, mute person can do anything, it makes their own efforts seem poor in comparison. “So let’s tear down the tall poppy so we look better” must be how their brains think.
I cannot understand them, but can understand disabled people. During a long painful year with Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, CRPS, in 2020, I was one. It was a tough journey, but I only had to endure a year of disability. Many are disabled for life.
Somehow, the human spirit rises to take on the task. During that year, I wrote a book, The last Hotel with my left hand, as I lost the use of my right arm and hand. It was a bizarre experience as I went to Italy for treatment and ended up in lockdown rather than on a recuperative holiday.
But I met interesting people who inspired a book. Life is one big detour and sometimes an illness, though unwelcome, allows us to learn and redirects our path in life. Just this tiny moment of disability taught me so much and broadened my horizons.
The body is amazing; the mind is amazing. Let’s not limit ourselves or others. Use our voices for good, to encourage not limit.
The Voice of Desiderata
Those with mean spirited voices need to ponder the words of Desiderata, “Speak your truth quietly and clearly and listen to others. Many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.”
So, rumor mongers need to check the truthfulness of matters before they spread rumors. And perhaps don’t even spread rumors as they are usually unkind, full of distortions and gossip. Let’s use our voices for good. Support one another. Be kind.
Joni Scott is an Australian author with two published novels: Whispers through Time and The last Hotel. She co-hosts a women’s blog; https://whisperingencouragement.com/ and has her own website; https://joniscottauthor.com.
Check out more posts at Whispering Encouragement
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