Monday, January 23, 2017

Alice Through the Glass Ceiling

There once was a young girl who fell into an alien world. At times, this little girl felt quite small, scared, lost, confused and embarrassed. She was thrown into a world that she didn't belong to. Although she struggled, she also grew quite tall, brave and powerful; strong enough to take on the aristocracy and injustice. However, this exotic world was just a dream or was it a nightmare? Alice awoke to find herself as a normal girl again in a normal world. Everything was as it should be.

The famous psychedelic 60's rock group Jefferson Airplane wrote a very unique song to accompany this children's book and it had quite a different interpretation of the narrative. Pardon me as I paraphrase: One pill makes you smaller, one pill makes you larger

It's astounding to think about the power behind just one little pill.

Being a woman is somewhat timeless. Our experiences may differ in setting or political, religious and philosophical background noise but we have all, throughout history, experienced fear, confusion, and embarrassment due to our gender. Women have to find the perfect balance. We can't be too smart or too dumb. One should never be too tall, unless you are a model, of course. Your hair can't be too long or too short and it should only exist on your head and nowhere else. You shouldn't be running around questioning things! My God, you are running out of time! Time! Your very body is a clock, nature's precious clock. Be sure to go to school before time runs out. But, you won't have enough time to put that degree to work because your children will need you first.

In the modern era, women have become masters of time. We go to school, we work, we raise the next generation, we write music, poems, books, annoying blog posts and hit TV sitcoms. It's exhausting just thinking about all the things that we women do in a day. For many of us, one little pill has given us this mastery of time. Science has offered us a choice. That choice is what makes America great. If you want to take away our choices then at least remember little Alice. I used to be like her (and some days I revert back). I was once confused, lost and constantly embarrassed. I was embarrassed to talk about a little pill that gave me so much control and safety. I was scared that others wouldn't understand. I didn't understand why others were so interested in the state of my body.

I still feel like Alice but now I'm the 10 foot tall Alice battling the queen. However, I didn't ask for any of this. Just like Alice, I was thrown into a world that I wish I could wake up from. I wish that everything could just be normal again.

One pill makes you smaller
One pill makes you larger
One pill gives you power
One pill grants you freedoms
One pill gives you time