What a week...

It was an awesome one :) It started on the weekend, May 3rd, and I went to the mall with friends and randomly got my ears pierced. So I have two sets in each ear now, yay! The day before that I went to a tanning salon for the first time; I now have a nice glow that this former Floridian could never seem to get again. That weekend I got an invite to a birthday party and got asked out to a date which was a good thing, as I need to meet more people right? Hah, pure disappointment. The party was fun though, a new friend of mine was there, a couple of girls from LU, and the birthday girl--who was happy to see me. The rest of the party guests were her co-workers from work all dressed up and very gorgeous. And crude. As pretty they were, they didn't look/act it with their male bashing, boisterous conduct, exaggerated swagger, and language. And I wondered to myself, what happened to women acting like ladies? I don't mean the prim and proper Victorian prudes that people think of, but women who are simply gracious, kind, and put others first. There is an old poem I once read and memorized that I think expresses it well.

The need of the hour, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox

What does our country need? - Not armies standing
With sabers gleaming ready for the fight;
Not increased navies, skillful and commanding,
To bound the waters with an iron might;
Not haughty men with glutton purses trying
To purchase souls and keep the power of place;
Not jeweled dolls with one another vying
For palms of beauty elegance and grace.

But we want women, strong of soul yet lowly
With the rare meekness born of gentleness;
Women who's lives are pure and clean and holy,
The women whom all little children bless;
Brave, earnest women,helpful to each other,
With the finest scorn for all things low and mean;
Women who hold the names of of wife and mother
Far nobler then the title of a queen.

Women who do not hold the gift of beauty,
As some rare treasure to be bought and sold,
But guard it as a precious aid to duty--
The outer framing of the inner gold;
Women who low above their cradles bending,
Let flattery's voice go by and give no heed,
While their pure prayers like incense are ascending--
These are our country's pride, our country's need.

As for my date, that's a story for another time...