11 February, 2003

You Know You're An UnReasonable Woman When...


You are allergic to tyranny.


No one tells you what to do.


You are tired of being part of tedious goodhearted groups devoted to biodiversity, yet whose message is, "come join us and conform."


You eat pretense for lunch (long burrrp).


You are willing to experiment with the great magic of synchronicity that results.


You feel kinship, hence support with the Fierce Dakinis who "dance and laugh as they feast on the painful negativity that the unenlightened take to be demons."


You are cool headed, warm-hearted, allowing us to enter hot situations as transformers of poison.


You quiver in your cells with the beauty and fecundity of the natural world, and know you are kin with all of it.


Your heart feels the plight of a child or mother in a foreign land, and you know that they are us and we are them.


The behavior of the white guys in Washington strikes you as fully insane, and you know theirs is not the world you want to live in.


You know that you feel called to take a stand to protect life.


You feel the healing of reciprocal mentorship with another woman/person.


The love you feel for/with your women friends makes you stronger.


You trust that relearning and practicing relationship, with each other and the land, is the most important thing there is.


You know this is not the world we want to leave our kids.


You trust you can be vulnerable and fierce at the same time.


You remember that beauty is a powerful force for good.


You are committed to finding ways to turn hate into love.


Every action gets you arrested.


Your mother cries everytime you enter the house.

The butcher man in the grocery store asks you what kind of flowers you want for your casket.


Your fingerprints are on FBI/Secret Service files.


You get on plane and your name is on a permanent list to be searched.


The cops take a picture of you.


Your child wakes up singing "Heck, no, we won't go [to war], we won't fight for Texaco!"


You insist on speaking a true "mother tongue"--the language of song and stories, of collaboration and spirit.


You see injustice around you and are compelled to act.


You can imagine being a part of a million women naked march because you know that real obscenity is in the systems promoted around us.


You are willing to stand for an issue that may not be "yours" because you understand the connection between poverty, racism, corporate power, environmental degradation and fear.


You are proud to be wearing hot pink underwear.


Your political life and spiritual life are inextricably linked together.


You not only question, but you defy, any authority that advocates violence.


You speak with, and on the behalf, of trees, whales, children, old people, birds and rocks.


You hear the word "environmentalist" you actually hear the words "sane reverent person."


You have your own probation officer because of engaging in civil disobedience.


You say that justice actually includes justice for the poor, the oppressed, the detained, the prisoner of war.


You believe that the words of Jesus, Ghandi and Martin Luther King should actually be lived out in the world.


You think that feeding the world means all species and all humans, regardless of their ability to pay.


You don't believe gasoline is a good enough reason to go to war. To be honest, you can't think of a good enough reason to go to war.


You think that if reason got us in this mess there has to be a better way out. Perhaps poetry or dance.


Your love for the earth and all its creatures is not an abstraction.


You look up the word "unreasonable" in the dictionary and you find your name there!


Corporate polluters call you "the housewife from Hell".


Your other UnReasonable Women friends understand when they send you a gift and it's 3 months before your write a "thank you" note, because they know you are busy with other important work!


You'd rather be at an environmental/social justice action than to be playing tennis at some country club.


You spend your "free time" working on environmental/social justice issues.


You find it difficult to socialize (communicate with) people who are not involved in the environmental/social justice movement (and you can't understand why they're not involved.)


The Governor of the neighboring state calls you an "Outside Agitator".


You've been arrested inside the White House.


Your "resume" lists your number of arrests and jail time (for peaceful, non-violent direct actions.)


You tell your husband you'll be away for a few days to participate in a protest, and the next day he learns from the local newspaper that you're in jail.


Senators and Congressman --- and even the president of the United States --- knows your name --- and it's not because you contribute big bucks!


At press conferences about toxic polluters, you wear a hot pink button that says, "SO SUE ME".


The polluter you are protesting files a million dollar SLAPP suit against you.


Your most vivid memories of a city include what the inside of their jail is like.


You force the Governor to leave his own press conference by waving a "weenie" (hot dog) at him.


Your family puts up the tree on Christmas Eve, just before picking you up from a 10-day jail stay.


You're arrested for contempt when you violate a court-ordered injunction meant to prevent you from protesting at the site of a toxic polluter.


Your other UnReasonable Women friends understand when you can't participate in everything they're doing because they know you're busy with other important work they believe in.


You are not afraid to cry because it is the only rational reaction


Intuition is valued, listened to and revered as much as intellectual activity


You know listening is an art that deserves cultivation


Forgiveness for our humaneness is never out of reach


You sweep past the petty to what really matters most


You live your mission and know it is bigger than all of us


All of your upbringing says you can't do it but you do it anyway


You give yourself permission to care for yourself


Actions stem from love and not fear.


You speak your truth, in spite of and because of the consequences.


You are undomescitated,and fully present in your body.


You stand up for your sisters and walk your talk.


You aren't willing to shut up when things are happening that you experience as unjust.


You experience your body as a beautiful sensual gift.


You accept the power of the heart.


You consider vcompassion to be strength.


You experience your heart as the center of your intelligence.


You start talking to trees.


Ttrees speak to you.


You take beauty seriously.


You think life is more important than money.


You don't see why weapons should cost more than schools.


You don't see the reason for funding prisons and not hospitals.


You don't understand the reasons for war against Iraq.


There are many times you can't tell the difference between terorrism and the war on terrorism.


You fail to see any good reason for rape or bombs, terror or poverty.


You think freedom from violence of any kind is a human right.


You cannot remain politely silent if you hear a racist remark.


Same sex love sounds like love to you.


You think you should be paid as much as the guy working next to you.


You don't volunteer to make the coffee.


You question company policy.


You develop the habit of questionning authority.


You are bored by dogma of any kind.


You refuse to cooperate with voice mail.


You begin to see the reason behind emotion and the emotion behind reason.


You think clean air and clean water are human rights.


You don't like chemicals in your food.


You like your food fresh and grown near where you live.


You take music seriously.


You don't always take the words "it's not possible" seriously.


You respect the intelligence of the earth.


You think beauty is a human right.


You know no title, black robe or uniform has the power to make a person any smarter than you are.


You love the naked truth.


You love life too much to tune out.


You realize silence does not always bring tranquility.


You love life so much you are are willing to take risks and be disobedient.


Standing up for justice seems like a great way to spend your day.


You'd rather make love than obey, make war, go along with the program.


You know every woman is powerful and many women together are too powerful to resist.


You know you are not alone.


Waterfalls and conifers are included the circle of friends and lovers you actively care for.


Your community doesn't treat you like a traitor when you take much needed rest.


Experiences of passionate enlightenment continually juice up your contributions to social transformation


Internalizedschisms no longer run your personal or community actions.


Cycles of restoration are built into how your community respects each other and the work that calls you together.


Your intergenerational relationships help quiet your fears of dying before "the work" is done.


You stop thinking, talking, and acting as though human beings exist apart from nature.


You put your body where your mouth is, e.g. your personal life reflects the sustainable principals you urge corporations and governments to adopt.


The polyrhythmic thumping in your stomach in response to systemic social/environmental challenges makes you dance life into creative alternatives instead of running away.


You have the respect of those you respect


You make a stand and don't mind finding yourself standing alone


You value the beauty of your life more than anything the world that calls itself the world can offer you


Joy pours through you as easily as grief and you act knowing both


You break laws knowing there are more reasonable ones you follow


You feel in your heart that you can say what you mean and mean what you say.


You look at or listen to another woman and identify with her life's journey.


You know it is safe to be vulnerable and share your story with other women.


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