This article was submitted to Amerikaner.org by AnonyMrs. If you would like to submit your own content, please email amerikanercontributions@proton.me
“I can’t even read this because there is nothing I can do about it” said my mother for the umpteenth time this year.
That feeling of helplessness is a familiar one and we all must grapple with it. As women, wives and mothers, it is more difficult, not less. Our sphere is the domestic, our attention allocated first to our men and children. Beyond that, we are less inclined to take risks than our men, and inherently more vulnerable than them when we do. There are fewer groups in which we can take part and as women we are much more group oriented and thus less interested in individual actions.
So, as an Amerikaner woman who sees the state of the world, what are we to do?
I bring up my mom because she has been unknowingly fighting against the rot in our society for my entire life. Without joining a group or listening to a podcast she used her own judgment and often rejected the common sense of the day. Some things are unique to a time that has passed and will not return but other lessons hold value today.
She got and stayed married. This may be the biggest and most important thing that my mother did for all of us. It is hard enough to grow up in this world, and the statistics only get worse when you are the children of non-married parents. It is not just children either; divorce destroys our men and weakens society. Staying married is no trivial thing and what a life lesson it was to be a young woman and celebrate my parents 25th anniversary AND my grandparents 50th anniversary.
She taught her children that marriage is not always easy, it is not a Disney fantasy and it is not happily ever after. You lean on each other, you fight and make up and you keep going. My parents, to the best of their abilities, faithfully fulfilled their roles both as parents and as spouses. Marriage is once and forever and she showed us this in word and deed and in so doing, gave her family better opportunities than the women around her who threw away good men in the name of faux independence.
She taught us to cook and eat real food. We were never a microwave dinner house and her mistrust of every health craze to come along resulted in adult-children who are appropriate weights and able to feed themselves. She believed that portion control was more important than low fat and aspartame would end up causing cancer. She put in the effort to feed us meals that were real nutritious food and to ensure we knew how to make our own real and nutritious food in her absence.
She stood up for us against the system. When my brother got suspended for the egregious error of singing “The Hanukah Song” while being a White boy, she went in with guns blazing. When she overheard the Sunday School class talking about sex with second graders, she found a new Church.
When Mom says that she doesn’t know what to do, I understand her frustration. The problems we face as a society are overwhelming and insurmountable for any one person but that does not mean there is nothing that we can do.
We are responsible for the care of our men so they can focus on other struggles. We are responsible for the well-being and education of our children so they can carry the flame into the future.
A healthy marriage, a healthy body and unconditional support for our men and children; these are simple things that are within the ability of every Amerikaner Woman. Before we try our hand at activism or taking part in a group, we can get our home lives in order to make sure our families are nourished and loved. This is the first and most important activism that a woman can do, everything else is icing on the cake.