Oliver North quoted an Iraqi governor who in just a couple sentences
captured the transforming power that women hold: "Women voting will
change everything. No woman who carries a child for nine months wants
that child to grow up to be a suicide terrorist. They want the
politicians to give their children something to live for, not die for --
and we will have to do
it."1 Women, who
safe-guard life in its earliest moments, have the power to shape society
like no other. Beyond moments such as this quote refers to, I am
reminded of the homily I heard at St. Veronica's last week. Guys are
very simple; we want to be in relationship with a girl. And, for the
right girl, we'll do anything in our power, and some things we would
have thought impossible, to keep her in our lives. This gives girls an
unique chance to influence the world. They get to set a standard for the
men in their lives, for the men they choose to date, the man they choose
to marry, the children they raise. Men are of course not absolved of
responsibility, it is a poor man indeed who does not exceed common
expectations for morality, decency, honor in today's society, but it is
women who define what is "exceptional" and what is "expected." God help
our girls to set high standards once again.
1)North, Oliver. "Of bombs, bullets and ballots" January 28, 2005