Roots, pain, and celebration
International Women’s Day 2019
(originally posted first on my Facebook)
Today is International Women’s Day, celebrated for the first time 44 years ago by the U.N. On this day this year I want to remember those women who came before us and my grandmother, specifically. She passed in December but her life lives on through me and our family. Without her sacrifices I would not be the woman I am today.
She raised two children on her own during the rise of communism in China — a harsh and transformative period for a country with a massively growing population. As a teen she fled her home when the Japanese invaded.
She never talked about those parts of her life and as much as I would press her she would just smile and give her little hearty laugh and say, “No need to remember unhappy times.”
I’ve been so reluctant to talk about her loss, share the news of her passing, because I don’t know why — ok, I’m a private person who’s been taught not to share pain.
But pain is in all of us, and I think we do ourselves a disservice not to share it, as hard as it may be to do so. We may not think we’re deserving of sympathy(?), that it’s selfish to draw attention to ourselves, but by doing so we place judgment on the pain — that it is somehow shameful or otherwise negatively distinguishing or impactful.
I’m talking to myself at this point, but maybe this makes sense for others too. Grief is something we all deal with in different ways, of course.
Death is part of life.
I guess that’s why on days like today when we reflect on who we are and where we are and celebrate it all… we remember our roots. We are here because of the roots grown by other women — women everywhere, like my grandmother.
Roots, pain, and celebration
Research & References of Roots, pain, and celebration|A&C Accounting And Tax Services
Source