Her Destiny is Change

by Beth Cohen

  The Absolute Man

  Something had gone terribly wrong. The men had far too much self-worth. The women were completely taken by surprise by the events that followed. They were in shock even as these events took place. But then, so were the men.

  The Absolute Man soon became the phrase of the day. In the Wideness, it was said of a man married with children and a working wife that he is the Absolute Man. The Absolute Man embraced his earning wife as long as she kept her home neat and tidy and remained subdued. These Absolute Men had great self-adoration and pride. And why wouldn’t they? They had jobs, were paid their worth, and had a wife who serviced the home, her job and the Absolute Man himself. It seemed to be only the women who found this absurd and who would say the words, Absolute Man, with a sarcastic drawl. The women in the Wideness felt their existence taken for granted and their worth joked about. This became increasingly clear the following week, the day that Dally and Jane Double D went to the Great Hall.

  The Daily Deed — Stepping out to resist!

  Change is never easy. Especially if you expect it to be easy, chances are it is going to be even harder. After much talking and moons of deliberation, the women of the Daily Deed came up with a proclamation — a list of changes that they felt were common sense and changes that they thought would be easily accepted by the men, the very earners they had raised and cared for.

  The proclamation was not meant to be anything that would bring about much controversy. The women who were actively seeking a way for progress to come in a natural and evolving manner believed with all of their naive, self-appreciation that what they proposed would be accepted. They were certain that somehow, once the situation was explained, their perspective painted out clearly and brought to light, like a moonlit night, the need for change would be so obvious that it would happen, the day would break. After all, it had been many sessions of peace in the Wideness. No one in the Daily Deed had any memory of the early sessions of time that were filled with stories of war and violence. They had all been raised in an epic session of time where peace had been in place so long, even peace (much like a woman) was taken for granted. The reasons for war, as well as the needs and the injustices of the early sessions of time, were thought to be long gone and had almost been forgotten.

  *** The Daily Deed sent out their proclamation to the Echelon of the Wideness. The Daily Deed sent these out on a Thursday evening and then went home to prepare for the response of change. The next day, Friday, nothing much happened. Nobody at the Daily Deed was worried or particularly surprised. Friday was not a big day for business and many earners, certainly the ones higher up, did not usually go to earn on Fridays. Indeed, many of the Echelon had long declared a four-day earning week for themselves and Friday was usually spent playing and stockpiling energy and fun.

  When Monday came around, anticipation was high among the Daily Deed. While they didn’t necessarily expect to hear that the earnings of the women would be brought to that of their male counterparts, they did expect to hear that the Echelon of the Wideness had read the proclamation and understood that an injustice had been occurring, and that this injustice was just an oversight, something that had not been formally brought to their attention before. They expected that the larger employers would probably complain at having to put out more to their female earners, but would do so, even begrudgingly — but they did expect that it would happen – or at least discussed. Surely their proclamation would be discussed! The thought that their fathers, husbands, brothers and sons would not respond did not even enter their minds. Wisdom. Patience. Kindness. This is what the Daily Deed knew women had brought to the Wideness and this is what they expected in return.

  However, Monday came and Monday went. Tuesday came and Tuesday went…and so went the rest of the week. Reality intruded on their

  expectations. The Daily Deed were beside themselves and as the week went on, their disappointment and shock turned into a full movement of discontented women, both those in the working phase of life, and those whose lives had not yet handed them the clarity of their own time and place. The women, wise as they were, realized their folly. They had raised these men. They had raised these men to treat the women exactly as they were being treated. They thought that somehow the men would be grateful for all they had received from their mothers, their wives — the Daily Deed! Reality intruded starkly into their illusion. It was shocking.

  Through the Daily Deed, a vocal call for immediate change came from the women. The Daily Deed then chose women who were familiar with the workings of the Wideness and who had worked alongside many of the Echelon. These four women were our heroes: Jane Double D, First Cowander-inChief Gabrielle, Dally Blyth and Kay King Junior.

  *** While many of the women were not surprised that the proclamation made by the Daily Deed had not been implemented as quickly as the Daily Deed would have wanted, they were surprised at the total lack of response…That Echelon felt no need to respond with so much as a word of acknowledgment was more than insulting. The women had raised these men. These women had taught and advised these men. These women believed they had earned and fostered the respect of these men. These women were very wrong and felt wronged. These particular women did not have it in them to ignore or be ignored. Being ignored was more than impolite. The words disrespectful and downright degrading came to mind — and these were not words that the women of the Wideness were used to thinking of themselves.

  However slowly, reality always has a way of intruding. When reality intrudes, it changes life. When reality intrudes, the best we can do is persist.

  *** The women, raised in the Beliefs of the Wideness, had witnessed great change in the carrying out of these Beliefs in their lifetimes. During their lifetime, or during the session of their lives, the women of the Wideness were finally permitted to work outside the home, albeit while keeping the home happy and functioning — and still be subservient to their men and all men...While some saw this as a kind of progress, it was actually more of an enslavement. Now, men would say to the Absolute Men, ‘’Look, the women have it all. They have jobs that they like, and they get to spend time making our homes look and feel just the way they want it. They have their children around them, too. What more could they possibly want?”

  *** Monday morning, three days and five weeks after the initial proclamation was sent out by the Daily Deed, Jane Double D and Dally Blyth went to the Great Hall to meet with the Echelon of the Wideness. They didn’t call in advance and make an appointment. Everyone knew that the Echelon, obviously all male, sat in the Great Hall every Monday morning from 9AM until 4PM discussing issues of public interest. These issues were posted the week before and anyone who wanted to be heard was welcome to come to the meeting. Well, theoretically everyone who wanted to be heard was welcome to come to the meeting, but the Echelon were not always happy or welcoming when their decisions were questioned. No one could remember the last time women had formally come to question their decisions. By law, they were supposed to listen to all, but by personality — pompous mostly — no one really expected to be heard. No one, that is, until Jane Double D and Dally Blyth walked into the Great Hall. They expected to be heard.

  As Jane Double D and Dally Blyth entered the Great Hall together, heads turned and there was an actual sound, a kind of whoosh, as the men began to whisper. Both Jane and Dally Blyth were well known in their respective fields. Their presence together was extremely powerful and almost awe-inspiring, even to these men. Although the men truly did not understand that they should have acknowledged the proclamation. They thought that they did have a kind of respect for many, if not most, of the women in their lives, as much respect as could be afforded women. They actually had no idea that their silence had offended so many individuals this past few weeks…and they had no idea what awaited them.

  Jane Double D and Dally Blyth were both incredible strong and attractive women. Each woman was very different from the other in appearance and manner. Jane Double D, a Judoshii expert, was a small
woman, muscular and hard. She looked like a statue chiseled and carved from marble and her effect was such as well. Dally Blyth, on the other hand, was tall and willowy. Her long, light-brown hair flew behind her as she walked. Her long legs carried her like royalty and her features were delicate. All heads turned. They walked together up to the line of others also waiting to be heard, expecting the wait to be quite long. They walked into the hall and found seats. They noticed that they were being watched — stared at. They sat and began their wait. Without knowing it, these were the first women to make an appearance in the Hall without any man to present or announce their coming.

  After a few minutes, shorter than they expected, the women were approached by a young man who asked them to come forward. Jane Double D and Dally Blyth approached the Heads sitting at the table for discussion. Jane cleared her throat and began to speak. Our salaries, they are not equal to yours — to the men. We’ve written. We’ve done what is supposed to be done according to the laws of the Wideness. And yet there has been no response.

  The Echelon looked at the women and then looked at each other. It was a question that had been raised before. Many sessions ago, there were other women who had asked this question…of their employers…of individual men — but none had come into the Great Hall and actually presented this to the Echelon.

  At first the Echelon didn’t know how to respond and looked to each other for response…then one made a joke and the others laughed…and then more jokes and more laughing. Jane and Dally were outraged — and speechless. They turned first to each other and then got up and left the laughing men, whose laughter spread from room to room and office to office until eventually the laughter reached the office of the Daily Deed.

  Life Before the Great Split Resistance, Persistence

  For the sake of the story, let us say that this ‘joke’ reaching the ears of the Daily Deed was mistake number three:

  Mistake one: the embarrassingly lower earning by women of the Wideness.

  Mistake two: not responding to the proclamation — ignoring the women. Mistake three: laughing and laughing at the expense of all the women…mistake three – STRIKE! And they were out…out of women, that is to say.

  The Daily Deed was swift in their response. If the men could show so little respect for the women… if the men could show so much disrespect for the women…if the men had so little value for the women…and laughter was their only action in response to not only the proclamation but to the actual faces of two of the most respected women in the Wideness, well then, the women had no choice.

  Part 3

  “Women grow radical with age. One day an army of grey-haired women may quietly take over the earth.” Gloria Steinman

  Gloria was only partially right. We didn’t all have grey hair at the time. And we weren’t so quiet.

  The Great Split

  In the beginning, there was the Wideness…And then man did not recognize the equality of the woman… and the men did jest at the women’s desires and the women’s words and at the women themselves. And then there came the Great Split.

  ***

  The leaving – a time to resist

  And the women had enough…and women became the women they knew they were.

  *** They packed their articles of clothing, their household objects, and any tools they could gather. They packed it all into whatever transportation was available. They gathered their children, young and not so young. Any of the young man-children who understood and wanted to be with his mother, his sisters, were urged to come along. Those that could bade goodbye to the men. Goodbye to the men and their world.

  Some of the women’s men understood that disaster awaited them and their kind. Many of these men uncovered a violence that had lain dormant until this moment. These men tried to beat their women into staying. They tried to beat their women to remain submissive — to capitulate. Many men tried…many women were beaten down. Struggles broke out. There was resistance — war. Not the kind of war that had been written in any of the history books or journals…not the kind of war that governments wage against other governments or soldiers against other soldiers. But make no mistake, it was a war.

  This war became far more brutal and ugly with each minute and each hour that passed. This war was waged and engaged-in in the homes of families that had previously been defined as united…This war was desperate men assaulting freethinking women. This war was enacted in more homes than imaginable, instigated by men who had never so much as slapped another living being. But these men, they found their violence buried deep in their anger and their fear.

  The aggression was not only out in the open but also inside homes, a living room, a bedroom, kitchen and yard. There was no one to stop it. There was no one to turn the heads of the children away. The tools of the struggle quickly turned from words to knives, from words to physical atrocities. Men, stabbing their women with their strongest weapon, penetrating, invading the bodies of their wives, their mothers, their sisters, their daughters. Madness, it was later called. The men called it simply, moment of Madness. The women, they called it reality — a terrible, dark reality that marked their lives forever, imprinting the deepest darkness and an

  insurmountable and unrestrained fear.

  The children, who witnessed this horror, even if spared the stabbing from the men’s strongest weapon, suffered a trauma that stayed with them for the remainder of their days. Their reality was instantly transformed. Some of the strongest and bravest women died. Many, many women were injured. All of these women were damaged in a way that no being should ever know. Most of the women surprised the men and rose up, even after the beating down they had received. They rose up and lived — they lived strong. They persisted. They resisted, taking the anguish and using it to strengthen their resolve, in the home, in the streets. The leaving was war.

  To add to their misery, some of the women were shocked to the core. These men — the same individuals who they had lived with, loved with and produced children with... these men turned into angry and violent beings.

  We must talk about the violence. Violent acts must not be hidden. We must always speak about the violent action, no matter how brutal, no matter how cruel, no matter how sadistic, no matter the pain. It all must be brought out into the light and

  remembered as we remember the sun rises and sets. When violent incidents are forgotten, they have the power to return and return again. Our future security lies in the remembering. Always remember; remember the words, remember the sound, remember how it looked and remember how it felt. The women — and the men of the Wideness — did not remember the sessions from long ago. It was forgotten and buried with the ancients. Had they remembered and learned from their own distant pasts, they might have been wiser before the Split.

  Perhaps the men would have remembered and known that violence — any violence perpetrated against the women — would lead to their own darkness and misery. Perhaps the Split would not have happened. But it did. The violence during the Great Split was beyond all expectations. For most of the women, the violence was never to be forgiven and certainly not forgotten. The men acted on all of their most brutal, primal instincts — without recognizing the pain they were inflicting. It was as if the blindness had taken over. A blind hatred for the women who had raised them, fed them, held them and loved them. The men shoved and shoved their women. The women split open and bled. The children, many stunned into motionless fear, others fought with their fists, with rocks, with knives — desperately trying to save their mothers, their sisters.

  The women’s exit from the Wideness followed precisely on the heels of this violence. The women’s exit from the Wideness was given a sudden urgency and sense of necessity by this violence. It was due to this push of outrage that the women found their own strength and truths. And it was the response to this violence that shaped the future of the Realm.

  *** As with any war and every war, the females suffered the most, suffering bodily and emotionally, as only men know how to
inflict pain on the women they profess to love. The war was horrific. But with this intrusion of the horrific reality, a strong unity was defined. If there had been any doubt in their minds, this agony, imposed by the men, bound the women to their intention and their action. Even those whose own bodies did not bear this abuse witnessed the possibilities of the future in the Wideness and turned their struggle to freeing the others being held and beaten down. Those who were let free ran to the private wars of their sisters, mothers and daughters. Some of the men, so livid with what they were witnessing, also intervened.

  Then the women left. They left their men. They left their lives in the Wideness — moving quickly and without further hesitation. The women took their children and their battered selves, they took each other and they left. There were some men who left with the women…but mostly ——— mostly the women left.

  And then…It was all over and a new world was born for both the men and the women. The women became a unit, a group, a united people, separate from the men, separated from the Wideness in which they were raised.

  Dally Blyth’s first speech after the Great Split

  Just at about that time, just before the violence broke out into pain and war, Dally Blyth had a vision of her mission. She called to The Daily Deed and there was a consensus. The women would form their own habitat. It was then that The Women’s Forward Movement was formed…and the WFM moved forward and the idea of the Realm came to be.

  They met at the edge of the city, just as the war began to show its ending. The Daily Deed were all there, only the women who were severely wounded in the struggle of the leaving and couldn’t walk didn’t join. But they did come and they did follow and they did join once all was set and Dally Blyth was heard.