The Women’s March in New York: Something in the Air

I felt proud to be a New Yorker today, proud to be a woman.The atmosphere was festive, easy, happy and yes…..committed! Any direction you looked was just one more reminder of why it’s great to stand with women. There was a level of companionship, ease and cleverness in this very large group that felt uniquely feminine. For at least an hour and a half we didn’t really move more than ten feet, everywhere you looked there were people.But it didn’t matter because the spirit of the march was so rich; so deep and wide. Maybe the fact that it was 52* and sunny, maybe that it’s been a year, maybe we’re just growing in confidence….but something feels very right. And a little bit different. There is a kind of group understanding that seems to have grown since last year’s march, (which was also wonderful).But this march has an ease about it that speaks to our movement coming into fruition. Just as the signs below say, “I am tired from yelling (and donating) all year. BUT I’M STILL HERE!!!”. And we “PERSIST”. But it’s the pleasure, friendship and joi de vivre on the women’s faces that says it all, I’m very much still here, I am here with my friends, with my dignity and with my joy.

Something in this past year is bringing women together in a new way. The combination of political and intensely personal goals has mobilized a swirl of energies that are coalescing around issues that cut across great divides. Maybe the fact that we cannot seem to elect a woman as president in spite of the fact that most other countries that we feel, let’s face it even superior to in our western way, is humbling. Maybe the metoo movement has given voice to the collective humiliation and embarassement that we’re all agreeing not to hide any more, and it’s freeing and uniting. Whatever is going on, it is good. And it is supple and it knows what it is without having to resort to rhetoric. One of the marks of a resilient person is their ability to bend as well as stand up straight, to be both strong and flexible. Whatever was going on today in this woman’s movement has these qualities, too, these marks of strength and resilience. There was something in the air today that was in a process of becoming, of defining itself; something that is emerging organically. Something that doesn’t need to be catagorized or glamorized becuase it is good, growing on its own and at the same time enough, just as it is.