Happy International Women's Day
For International Woman’s Day I had all these intentions of writing a passionate post about what being “woman” has meant for me. A post about my perspectives on the world and how I was socialized to play a gender role that I now realize is not authentically me.
But instead, I have decided to celebrate an amazing woman who lived long before the internet and who produced beautiful writings and poems that were never published. My great-grandmother, Caroline Linton.
Below is a poem she wrote about belonging and finding your place. I believe this is the compassion, empathy, and vision for the world that women bring to relationships, the workplace, and humanity. It speaks to the core of how I believe many women view, and find, their purpose.
Just the Simple Things of Life by Caroline Linton (estimated writing 1930/1940)
“If you can’t be a great snow-capped mountain,
Be a tree in the valley below,
Where the bright flowers bloom, and their fragrant perfume,
Fills the air when the soft breezes blow.
If you can’t be a turbulent river,
Tumbling and rushing along,
Be a nice shady nook with a cool babbling brook,
Where the little birds sing their sweet song.
If you can’t be a stately cathedral,
With spires reaching high in the air,
Be a little white church by the wayside,
Where the chimes call the faithful for prayer.
If you can’t be a bright flashing signal,
Be a candle whose soft shining ray,
Disperses the gloom and lights up the room,
Where you read at the close of the day.
If you can’t be a beautiful painting,
In a gallery with prestige and fame,
Be a snapshot of children and loved ones,
On the wall in a pretty gilt frame.
If you can’t be a great prima Donna,
Sing a lullaby tender and sweet.
If you can’t give stirring oration,
Speak kindly to all you may meet.
For in this world of commotion,
Misunderstanding and speed,
Faith and love and quite devotion,
Are somethings this world surely needs.
For life’s like a jigsaw puzzle,
Each one their own place must fill.
If it’s large or its small, doesn’t matter at all,
As long as we’re doing our will.
So let us be humble and faithful,
As onward through life we must go.
If we can’t be a great snow-capped mountain,
Be a tree in the valley below.”
