As Common As Breathing
Something as common as breathing is the work of women.
The taking for granted that one breath will follow the other.
The surety of the inhale followed by the exhale followed by the inhale.
But an appalling mechanism can ensue should there be a pause
in that unconscious act of breathing.
You could in fact die from a brief cessation of something as common as breathing,
something as accessible as air.
As is the silent work of women.
The endless striving to create the glue between people.
Refining of the essential recipe for growing up humans.
The constant flow from one role to another.
Daughter, sister, mother, wife, teacher, servant, lover.
As silent as the breath.
You stay cocooned, so sure of her inexhaustive ability to stay in motion.
But in the stillness between the inhale and exhale, what if she should pause?
What if she lingers long enough to wonder why life isn’t as beautiful as she remembers?
You might feel a constriction in your airway, suffocated by her pause.
You rapturously urge her to renew her breath before you die
having never taken your own.
Something as common as breathing is the value of woman’s work.
Things taken for granted, undervalued, underpaid, and invisible.
However, if we stop, we know you will asphyxiate, so we choose life.
As mothers, we can never stop.
As wives, we are determined to not stop.
As daughters, we can’t stop.
As lovers, we offer the breath of life.
Eventually, the giver of life may become ravenous for her own oxygen.
If the work of women is as common as breathing,
Why do you and your children wilt and dry up in its absence?
When will you take your first breath so she can reclaim hers?
If you learn to breathe on your own,
She will rise up joyfully and keep pace because she is your equal.
Breathe life into her heart, she will give you the universe.
Just try it!
