That's right, you all know one, in fact you all know a lot of amazing women at Daily Kos. And of course this place wouldn't be the same without all you men out there but I really wanted to take the time to thank the women who make this place not just a blog, not just an online community but a sort of home.
You know these women well, they advocate for so many different people, least likely themselves. They do the news and the history, they tell us about their kids and their grandkids. They share their love of their pets and the pets they wish they could have. They share their loss and give us a chance to share the loss of others.
They give of themselves on a daily basis here or just rare occassions.
They write diary series or a comment here or there. These women scold sometimes and keep a lot of you line. There are women here who hold us virtually when were hurting or prop us up when we think we can't stand and fight any longer.
You know these women. I've been honored to know so many, so many that I would be mistaken to name names. But they know who they are. They right top comments and over night news digest. They post recipes and advice on how to grow things, from gardens to our children. They write about health care and food safety. They help us save a bit of money and save a bit of time.
Some are mothers, some are not. Some are very young and some are very old. Each brings a wisdom that I'm often in awe of and inspire me to be a better woman. I'm inspired to push myself to grow and inspired to speak to them and for them. So many women out there don't have a voice and haven't found it. So many women here speak for those women.
You have women without health care and without hope. There are so many women without a safety net for themselves and their children and so many women fight, sometimes unnoticed for those who just need someone to hear their story and their pain.
These women don't just do online, they volunteer in their communities and raise awareness. They stitch blankets and mend hearts. You know they cry often and hurt even more with every story they read or write that extends our collective loss.
So much anger in the world, so much uncertainty, but you know there is a woman here that you can count on to make you smile or even LOL. You know there is a woman you can confide in and lean on or just have them scold you for being so damn down trodden.
Please take the time to thank a woman you know at Daily Kos. Take the time to remember all those who help to heal and hope to make this place a better world for all. We can't focus all the time on those that make these changes harder for us all although shining light on them makes their ability to intimidate and scare that much harder.
We certainly can take a moment to remember those who only offer good in our world, who offer us hope in their words and deeds and who are the women we know here at Daily Kos. I'm blessed to know so many. Dearly and deeply blessed.
UPDATE - I graduated from Smith College where we only had one gender enrolled. It wasn't to exclude but was born out of the need for women to have a place to get an education. It used to be that we were not given that right and that many women had to fight to go to school, to vote and to be seen as fully equal to men.
As a Smithie I learned to thank those women who had mentored me, nurtured me and helped me grow as a person. I learned that some knitted sweaters and other climbed mountains. I've always been a proud feminist, not shying away from the word in the least. I don't see thanking those women who literally do the things in this diary as being sexist.
I can't fix my own hair to save my life (which hasn't boded well for my daughter). There are a lot of things that I just don't like to do that maybe as a woman people would think I'd be inclined to enjoy. The thing is this, every person is unique, regardless of the genetic makeup and I wanted to thank all the women here who had encouraged me to use my voice and who had used their own to make the world a better place.
I assumed when talking about advocating for health care that would include facts and fight, that it would mean being smart and being tough. When people write about food safety and issues they tend to be highly fact laden and completely analytical. I think of all those things as being inclusive to the qualities listed in the diary and that we are all a measure of some, of none of them or all. And because I can see why the criticism is completely valid, that I did leave out many things that should have been included, things I do take for granted as qualities in many of the women I refer to.
A lot of the things I refer to here are things that I have trouble with myself and that I see as part of being a good person, regardless of gender. I just literally thought of the women here who have made me feel welcome. There was no other intention than that.