We Rise

I keep learning these truths:All the best ideas are simple.Profound impact often begins with a small action.Eve Ensler called me a year ago to ask if Hedgebrook would participate in something called ONE BILLION RISING. She explained the idea in less than two minutes. It sounded so simple that I couldn’t quite grasp it, or fully comprehend the potential impact.Because it was Eve, I said, “Yes! Of course we’ll participate!”Now here we are, a year later, one billion rising. One billion human beings dancing, laughing, crying, singing, yelling, praying, our voices ringing together, harmonious and off-key, raised in a big-hearted, full-throated shout out to the universe. Calling for violence to stop and for healing to begin. Calling for a new way of being.What will happen next?This is what I see: a figure standing at the edge of canyon, yelling into the void until she’s hoarse. Exhausted and exhilarated, she waits in the silence. Listening… eyes blinking into the darkness…she inhales, exhales and…the echo comes back: You are here.You are heard.You are alive and you are not alone.Let this action unleash a tidal wave of love.Love that transcends romance and physical intimacy.Love that redeems our humanity and erases our cynicism.Love that restores our faith in the possibility of wholeness.Let she who has been violated feel her full power restored.Let her come home to the holy, righteous temple of her body.Let there be time for atonement.Let there be time for forgiveness.Let there be an end and a beginning, in one breath. It’s time to rise.  Hedgebrook supports visionary women writers whose stories and ideas shape our culture now and for generations to come. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily representative of the opinions of Hedgebrook, its staff or board members.