Pat Taub
Who’s the older woman warrior?
She’s the older woman, who believes in doing her part to make her community and the world a kinder, more just place. She cares deeply about the planet her children and grandchildren will inherit. She’s not afraid to stick her neck out. She figures she doesn’t have much to lose given her advanced age. She doesn’t want to die in a state of indifference.
Not every older woman is a gold star woman warrior with the single-minded focus of Angela Davis, Gloria Steinem, Jane Goodall or Codepink’s Medea Benjamin, but we can draw inspiration from them. Given the urgent state of our country and the globe, it behooves all older women to do whatever they can to help shape a better world.
Gloria Steinem (background) and Angela Davis (speaking) at a recent Black Lives Matter Protest
The world needs the collective wisdom of older women. It needs our compassionate outlook in a world dominated by men who have lost their moral compasses.
The older woman warrior expresses her concerns through painting, music, the written word, film production, direct action, or through a combination of these.
Audre Lorde, a trail-blazing writer, poet and activist
If you’re new to activism and feel uncertain, start small. Phone your Congressional representatives; send a letter to the editor; attend local meetings where citizens are working for climate change and social justice. You don’t have to cover the map. Choosing just one cause that speaks to you counts for a lot.
The Radical Age Movement founded to take on ageism and sexism
Above all, don’t ever think your voice doesn’t matter. It does. We need every single voice because there are more of us than there are of them.
Concerned citizens protesting the caging of migrant kids
If you’ve never joined a peaceful protest march, maybe now is the time. Joining a rally or marching with others will give you hope. Marches and protests, while not the end-all of change, are incredibly energizing. If your health doesn’t permit taking to the streets, support those who do by sending encouraging emails, or by contributing to bail funds for jailed protesters.
Commit to informing yourself about the disenfranchised: read about the history of Blacks, Native Americans, Latinos, and Asian Americans. A good place to start is with Isabel Wilkerson’s book, Caste, which documents how race and class are embedded in America, similar to India’s caste system.
Expand your news sources by checking out podcasts that often report what the mainstream media leaves out. I’m partial to Democracy Now and Rising.
Support young people on the forefront of change, but don’t make the mistake that older folks made during Occupy where they lectured to their youthful cohorts. Listen and learn without offering unsolicited advice.
For inspiration, refer to the writings of notable older women warriors like the Buddhist Joanna Macy. According to Macy: “In the dark, the eye learns to see.” One can choose to be hopeful or wallow in doom and gloom. I’m with Macy.
Resist feeding into the hateful divisiveness accelerated by Trump that are still with us even though he’s out of office.
This is a hard one: whenever possible, try to engage with Trump supporters. For me, the key is listening to them in an effort to understand their perspective. I have found Arlie Hochschild’s book, Strangers in Their Own Land, an invaluable tool for comprehending the radical right.
My bulletin board spills over with inspiring quotes that keep me charged. Here’s one of my all time favorites, a poem by Mary Oliver:
When it’s over, I want to say: all my life
I was a bride married to amazement.
I was the bridegroom, taking the world into my arms.
When it is over, I don’t want to wander
If I have made of my life something particular, and real.
I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
or full of argument.
I don’t want to end up simply having visited the world.
