empathy for survival
What can you do to become more empathetic and supportive toward people, especially women, who are navigating difficult circumstances today?
Ruth 3:1-4
Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, “My daughter, I need to seek some security for you, so that it may be well with you. Now here is our kinsman Boaz, with whose young women you have been working. See, he is winnowing barley tonight at the threshing floor. Now wash and anoint yourself, and put on your best clothes and go down to the threshing floor, but do not make yourself known to the man until he has finished eating and drinking. When he lies down, observe the place where he lies; then go and uncover his feet and lie down, and he will tell you what to do.”
Society was not built for women. Not modern society and not the society where Ruth existed. And when the only sources of stability and security are gone, women are and were left with few options to survive. So, since the beginning of time, women have done what they have to do in order to survive. And women have found judgment and alienation in response.
Ruth’s story reminds me of Malitzin, or La Malinche, this Nahua woman who was taken by force and got creative in order to survive. She learned Spanish and became the first official Spanish-Nahuatl translator. Her work helped the Spaniards conquer Mexico, but she had no choice. And even if we try to make her a villain, she was a woman trying to survive. I wonder how many women we know and have judged not knowing they are doing what they have to do to survive.
What can you do to become more empathetic and supportive toward people, especially women, who are navigating difficult circumstances today?