Letter from the editor
For the Sake of Commitment...
This month’s letter from the editor is coming from a very deep crevice within my mind of cluttered to-dos as I walk with strident confidence knowing that commitment is my way of honoring what is already mine.
This year marks the 5th anniversary of The Women Are Talking Initiative; a journey on which I made the commitment to blindly embark; no map in hand, but with an overwhelming desire to see the world for women of all walks of life change.
Over the past five years of watching this vision take form, what I have learned is this. Desire is the first step to honoring the commitments we make to others but more importantly to ourselves. The Women Are Talking Initiative was formed around a desire to see the world according to women change and the commitment that has emerged has been one of the most amazing experiences I have had in my few decades here on this earth.
I will admit that it has not been easy, because believe it or not, as much as we women express our desire to see things change, too few of us are willing to trust ourselves and other women to make change happen. What I also discovered is that we are too quick to criticize and slow to ask what can we do to advance the efforts of those who are brave enough to take on the task. In defense of women, however, I would imagine that living in a world where barriers are often seen as functional structure, that anything that threatens to remove those barriers may perhaps expose our fear of the fact that we are powerful beyond anything our minds could measure is more than we feel we can handle. The truth is we are capable and able to handle this and so much more.
As we approach the May 3rd date, I will admit that there are moments when the idea that women who are leaders in their prospective fields will gather to follow a roadmap that has been defined by myself from a plan that is at this moment, a mere vision waiting to come into fruition, simply takes my breath away. I know that now is not the time to be paralyzed by fear, but rather to step up to the plate and lean on the strength of the women who answered the call to lend their voices to this important discussion. I recognize that they too have a burning desire to see our world for women CHANGE and their voices are indeed their own commitment to follow through on the dream.
I am so pleased and grateful to have technology leader AT&T and Recipes for Good Living Magazine take the challenge to usher this dream into today’s virtual world of what will be tomorrow’s reality. It takes vision, fearlessness and a great deal of commitment to hew out a new path in a world filled with its fair share of cynicism. But then, that is what commitment is all about; creating, sharing and the willingness to do the impossible.
I am certain that post May 3rd there will be many lessons learned, but anything worth doing is worth the wisdom gained that can only come about as a result of following through. Our experience will help to launch a platform and forum from which we will continue to build a world, though virtual, where women can engage in respectful dialogue, find ways to serve others as we serve ourselves and finally position women where citizenship is no longer a space that we have to fight for, but rather a space that we rightfully occupy.
Won’t you join the 1 million voices on May 3, 2013 as we speak our futures into existence? For more information and to sign up, please visit www.womenaretalking.org, www.facebook.com/womenaretalking or on Twitter @watalking.
How good is that...
Deigratia,
Bonnie