Re-imagining ourselves.
We’re bigger than we may first think we are. By joining together we can begin to re-imagine what we can do and who we are.
At this MAU Vocal Empowerment Workshop a lovely older women, Dorothy, spoke of her life as a mother of nine grown children, a grandmother to many, and a nurse for decades. After such an immensely full life she was now in her retirement looking for what to do with her time that would be a worthy contribution. When each person described their action based on their concern, she said she would like to start reading to children in her neighborhood school. Everyone responded to that action as a very nice and kind thing for her to do. As we continued around the circle, another older woman who was active with RESULTS, a non-profit that trains people to partner with their elected leaders to lobby for poverty issues, said that her action would be to hold an open town hall meeting at their local lower-income health center. She said she could assure that their congressperson would be there since she had a good working relationship with him, which, in turn, would likely attract good media coverage. Her goal was to publicly draw attention to the most dire health challenges faced by children and their families living in poverty.
Dorothy’s demeanor changed upon hearing this, and she said directly to this woman, “I want to do that.” They exchanged contact information on the spot and decided that they would proceed with this plan together. All of us present witnessed Dorothy re-imagining herself as someone bigger and more mighty than she had previously imagined—with a public voice, and with the life experience to stand behind it. Though reading to children is a noble and worthy pursuit, in that moment she saw herself and her amazing life experience as preparing her for something more public and daring.
