Twenty-five or twenty-six years ago, I sat around a table in
the family violence center’s shelter with a group of women who taught me to
French braid my hair. While we
braided, we sang along to Whitney Houston’s song “The Greatest Love of All.” I remember us all singing “You can’t
take away my dignity.” It seemed
like such an appropriate song for all women and especially for this group of
women who had been beaten down, but weren’t ready to give up. I was the director of the Family
Violence Prevention Center of Greene County. It was when the shelter was in a lovely old house on West
Second Street. My office had a
door that opened into the living room for families staying there. That day, in the summer, the women were
gathered in the dining room discussing their plans for the day.
When I could, I sat in on the meeting and shared my plans
for the day. It was a great way to
model that we all have to plan our time and we are all accountable for
establishing goals. After the goal
setting, someone turned on the radio and the group continued in a friendly
discussion. They decided to
French braid their hair looking at my head of long hair and offered to help
me. Within a very short period of
time, I learned to French braid my own hair. What a wonderful gift.
And then, Whitney Houston came on singing and we all joined in. It was
such a lovely moment of companionship and sisterhood.
Hearing about Whitney Houston’s death brought these memories
back to me. Whitney was a
brilliant star in our universe. And like Judy Garland’s bright star, she was troubled with
addictions that dimmed her star and led to her death. There are so many women who aren’t stars who suffer the same
addictions. May we fill our hearts
with hope that they will conquer their demons.
