At eighteen you don't expect a work-study job to impact your life a whole lot, let alone affect it for decades to come.
At the time, in the mid-seventies (TOLD ya it was a long time ago!), I was newly from what had been a pretty sheltered up-bringing. My grandmothers, aunts, and my mother herself had already shown and taught me what strong women can do. I had joined Alpha Chi Omega, a sorority at UND and found myself surrounded by more strong women.
Going to work at the Women's Center ... that's what really opened my eyes and gifted me with the vision to see and feel what was so very important about what the women in my life had done, were doing, and even more what they were going to do. And I came to learn that my own contributions were valued and meaningful, even if it was 'just' stuffing envelopes and trekking campus making deliveries.
I grin today because back then my sorority sisters dubbed me their 'Token Rebel' while my Women's Center colleagues called me their 'Token Sorority Bitch' (with grins of their own). Nobody ever even once insinuated in any way that I ought to choose one path or the other; I was happily walking both in perfect harmony and it was only much later I thought that it might have seemed a bit odd to those who knew me then.
And you know what? I've put on a lot of miles since then, lived a lot of lives ... and come to the understanding that in reality there was no feeling of division for me - because in reality there is no division.
Warriors come in all shapes and sizes, with different skills and interests, and all are equally needed. At times the role of one will be at the fore, at other times another role will be needed to take the lead - yet all are necessary and balance is maintained through the very diversity that one would expect to be divisive.
The seeds of this knowledge were planted jointly by my family women, Alpha Chi - and the Women's Center has nourished and protected those seeds through the years.
At times my life held fear and confusion. Randomly I would show up at the door of the Women's Center at UND, hurting and needy. Not once did I feel weird about that. Whether it was the simple serenity that pervades the place, a textbook, or advice - the women of UND's Women's Center gathered me in and helped me to heal.
Another truth that has come to me, in large part via the Women's Center is that the 'traditional gentleness' of women in general is backed by a fierce tenacity, an indomitable courage that cannot be defined by any words that I know, and I have a fairly good vocabulary.
In the very old days of my books women went actively into battle right alongside all who were ready willing and able. Today women also go actively into battle - but in between there were other sorts of battles that needed fighting. I ask myself when that changed and how come that would have had to be. The quest for answers goes on for me.
I will never find all the answers, but I do know one thing. When I stop in at the Women's Center (all too rarely I fear) I will find there strong women who are loving and giving.
Today I am smiling in anticipation of a visit soon - just thinking about the quiet serenity I will find there soothes my wounded soul, and knowing that serenity is concurrent with that same fierce strength gives me courage.
Peace is sometimes hard-bought yet it is what underlies all. The battles of the past have preserved for us the Legacy of our own indomitable spirits.
And I'm going to shut up now before I get really maudlin.
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