A story dedicated to recognizing women through history with some musical lines connecting them to the present. The women are just a reminder of those we'll all remember and those we might not but who did great things. The musical references are to make you smile.
Pass The Torch: A Woman’s March Through Time
As they march through time, women’s power lights up the world with their eloquence and strength casting off shards of light that fly forward through the stream of time into the world consciousness inspiring those that they touch:
Pre-historic Lucy stands alone on the continental plain as she nurses her baby and stares ahead searching always for food and water for her child to survive. The ground shakes beneath her. She steps forward seeking to escape the trembling sands holding her child even tighter. The Earth quiets and she continues her trek walking on air when she finds an oasis where she sings … Lucy in the sky with diamonds falling from her eyes. She is the ascent of humankind; she is the beginning of the diaspora. She is strong.
She dances at the edge of time and leaves her bones to guide the search for the beginning of humankind.
Pass the torch.
Brave Hypatia smiles her enthusiasm as she teaches mathematics, philosophy, and astronomy to all who will listen in the waning years of the Roman Empire. She always speaks the truth as she knows it even though others with rising power may disagree. She stands unflinchingly as a mob turns on her to kill her words that don’t agree with their beliefs. She dies a martyr of philosophy … knock, knock, knocking on heaven’s door as she passes through the ether to the other side of time.
She is strong.
She speaks of great ideas that seep into the future in her search for truth in the now.
Pass the torch.
Eleanor of Aquitaine gazes across the European continent at the many countries where her influence holds great sway. She rides with her soldiers to the crusades in the Middle East to clash with the caliphate on the orders of the pope. She marries kings and gives birth to great leaders around the world … singing ancient lullabies and speaking out against war in the court of the crimson king. She is strong.
She sings to her babies to push the edge of history forward to the future that waits for us all down the annals of time.
Pass the torch.
Jeanne d’ Arc, the Maid of Orleans, follows her vision to lead others to great military victories. Even after being captured by an enemy, she stands proud and true to her faith as she is burned at the stake … because she is pure in her beliefs, because she inspires bravery in all people, because … only the good die young. She is strong.
She’s made a saint by men who might have laughed at her strength but come to know that a woman can be more than a vessel to fulfill the desires of all men.
Pass the torch.
Isabella promotes learning for the people of her land as she sends explorers around the world in search of its edge or a pathway to the New World or the riches in the East. She uses power to recognize intelligence and new ideas as she goes riding around in the breeze lending a hand, doing the best that she can. She’s alright now. She pushes the European dream onto the continents of the New World. She is strong.
She launches ships and ideas to search the world for its secrets that bring us all to the beginning of knowing what we know.
Pass the torch.
Catherine the Great expands the Russian dream as she brings reforms to her country and wields absolute power. When others call her names, she just stands tall living her life in the way she believes will set the people free. She is a woman who follows her own sexuality without concern for the judgment of others. In the midnight hour, you can feel her power. She is strong.
She wakes the world to the thought that women want things too as she fights to bring the people closer to the possibility of equal opportunity even in the huts of the serfs. She takes serfs up without riding on a board.
Pass the torch.
Jane Austen speaks her mind clearly and exposes her intelligence to the world as she tries to expose the plight of womankind. She uses her femininity to stand up to men in power at a time when women are still considered property. Because of her, girls get to make the choice to be or not to be another brick in the wall. She is strong.
Her words become associated with pixels on screens across the world as women begin to achieve the status on their own that was the focus of her work in the faraway past.
Pass the torch.
Mary Anning rises above her lack of education and of any social status in a world where those things matter above all else to become acknowledged as an expert on the fossil record. Her discoveries and observations lead to development of the Theory of Evolution by the leading men of the time. She is able to find a way to make her brilliance evident to the world at a time when women have few rights and class structure decides fame and fate. She gives others a fast car and a ticket to anywhere. She is strong.
She makes a world dominated by men know that women of all classes have intelligence to give and wisdom to lead the world to new discoveries.
Pass the torch.
Sacagawea guides men on their path across the New World continent opening the western United States to those who came after. She uses her strength to pave the way for others to walk through the beauty of the wilderness in the western part of the North American continent. She is a Native American that we all should remember well as we travel on the road again in this land that is our land. She is strong.
Her wisdom of the wild causes men to follow her at a time when men refuse to see that women have the right stuff to lead the way to new frontiers.
Pass the torch.
Nellie Bly is a journalist breaking stories before women are allowed to vote or have opinions on things that matter in the world. She amazes the world when she travels the globe alone in just seventy two days beating the fictional record in the Jules Verne fantasy. She always gets the scoops not just the second hand news not the stuff of paperback writers. She is strong.
She blows past all boundaries and outdoes them all at a time when men believe that women have to stand behind closed doors in the darkness of self-doubt.
Pass the torch.
Ada Lovelace is a pioneer in the world of computers at a time when women were still the property of men. She makes discoveries that will lead men down the path to understanding the digital world. She helps us find all those things that are blowing in the wind. She is strong.
She shows the world a feminine mind that can pierce the mysteries of computerized order.
Pass the torch.
Florence Nightingale creates the idea of a nurse as the Lady with the Lamp. She voluntarily follows her heart to stand for her country in a war she believes matters to the welfare of the people of her country. She fights for the life of the universal soldier to put an end to war. She is strong.
She passes all stereotypical thought patterns to bring aid to suffering people and free women from the yoke of societal norm.
Pass the torch.
Wangari Maathai fights to protect the people of Kenya as well as its other species. She plants trees to protect the environment and bring peace to her country. She won’t back down as she expends her energy giving care to the world. She is strong.
She uses love for the world to bring peace to her people.
Pass the torch.
There are so many more standing tall through the annals of time and the frontiers of space, throughout the history of our human existence on this
planet:
Pass the torch to them all.
Pass it backward and forward through time to the many leaders who work inside their governments to further the evolution of humankind: Cleopatra, Boudicca, Elizabeth I, Victoria, Angela Boudett-Couts, Princess Diana, Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meir, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, Indira Gandhi, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sandra Day O’Conner, Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Angela Merkel, leaders in the world who stand strong as women and protect their nations above themselves. They are strong.
They bring power to us all.
Pass the torch.
Pass it backwards and forward through time to the many social leaders who fight to make changes for us all: Katherine Graham, Eleanor Roosevelt, Madeleine Albright, Emmaline Parkhurst, Melinda Gates, Michelle Obama, Peggy Noonan, Sonia Sotomayor, Loretta Lynch, Yuri Kochiyama, Oprah Winfrey, leaders in the world who stand strong for all people without regard for party or personal goals. They are strong.
They are a unifying force for us all.
Pass the torch.
Pass it backwards and forward through time to the many athletes who make the world understand the strength of all women: Sonja Henie, Serena Williams, Billie Jean King, Venus Williams, Mia Hamm, Nadia Comaneci, Mary Lou Retton, Steffi Graf, Tracy Caulkins, Joan Benoit, Nancy Lopez, Hope Solo, Maria Sharapova, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Danica Patrick, Simone Biles, Lisa Leslie, Chris Evert, Kerri Walsh Jennings, women athletes who rise to show the world that all women can compete at every level, can win win with compassion and lose with dignity. They are strong.
They bring strength and dignity to us all.
Pass the torch.
Pass it backward and forward through time to the many artists, singers, performers, actors, and writers who use their creativity to further the evolution of humankind: Mary Shelley, Simone de Beauvoir, Frida Kahlo, Coco Chanel, Georgia O’Keefe, Mary Cassatt, Annie Leibovitz, Yoko Ono, Virginia Woolf, Toni Morrison, Charlotte Bronte, George, Eliot, J.K. Rowling, Alice Walker, Agatha Christie, Louisa May Alcott, Edith Wharton, Gertrude Stein, Dorothy Parker, Meryl Streep, Madonna, Berthe Morisot, Rosa Bonheur, Judith Leyster, Bridget Riley, Lee Kranser, Elaine de Kooning, Maya Angelou, Willa Cather, Zora Neale Hurston, Sylvia Plath, Harper Lee, Diana Ross, Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Donna Summer, Billie Holiday, Helen Mirren, Maggie Smith, Carol Channing, Liza Minelli, Ethyl Merman, Patty LuPone, Bernadette Peters, Marilyn Monroe, Greta Garbo, Ingred Bergman, Lana Turner, Jean Harlow, artistes in the world who use their imagination, talent, voices, and presence to further the evolution of humankind. They are strong.
They bring vision to us all.
Pass the torch.
Pass it backwards and forward through time to the many activists, philosophers, and reformers who give their lives to bring great change to the world: Mary Seacole, Josephine Butler, Mary Wollstonecraft, Elizabeth Fry, Marie Stopes, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan, B. Anthony, Lucy Stone, Ida B. Wells, Rosa Parks, Jane Addams, Gloria Steinem, Margaret Sanger, Betty Friedan, Coretta Scott King, Malala Yousafzai, Obiageli Ezekwesili, strong voices in the world for all of those in need. They are strong.
They bring positive change for us all.
Pass the torch.
Pass it backwards and forward through time to the many scientists, explorers, and discoverers who who explore the outer edges of knowledge to take us further down the path of evolution:: Rosalind Franklin, Amelia Earhart, Sally Ride, Valentina Vereshkova, Marie Curie, Barbara McClintock, Joyce Ball, Dorothy Hodgkin, Rachel Carson, Emmy Noether, Hedy Lamar, Mary Leakey, Gertrude Bell, Isabella Byrd, Fanny Bullock Workman, Jeanne Bare, Aimee Crocker, Osa Johnson, Isabella Eberhardt, Annie Londonderry, Hester Stanhope, women who use their minds to expand the horizons of the world. They are strong.
They open new worlds for us all.
Pass the torch.
Pass it backward and forward through time to all of the strong and wise women who expanded the horizons of us all, too many to count. They discovered, explored, thought, competed, created, acted, and changed everything with their knowledge and strength. They are strong.
They inspire us all.
Pass the torch.
Pass it now and pass it forward in time to all of us who exist on a planet that needs our strength and wisdom. Pass it to every person on the planet. Pass it with respect and love for all of us struggling to survive and continue to expand the knowledge and wisdom of the world.
We must inspire each other.
Hold the torch high with respect and understanding for all. Use the torch to lead us to a better world in the now. Use the torch to lead us to a better future for us all.
Since Lucy, older female remains have been found in a cave in South Africa. Mothers were always the nurturers of babies, ensuring that the species, Homo sapiens, would continue. I have read that "Lucy in the sky with diamonds," was a not so hidden reference to LSD. ;-)
Understanding mathematics, philosophy and astronomy correctly is not the sole domain of men. While I had few students in those classes that were female, those females usually did far better than the men. Some were outstanding like Hypatia, exceeding my knowledge and ability as a teacher.
Your article/essay also covers so many women that have made significant contributions to society. I hope you also will include Harriet Tubman who is soon to be honored with the movie of her extraordinary life. And include former astronaut and medical doctor Mae Jemison, principal investigator for 100 Year Starship.
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