artwork by Manon Doyle
ROAR!by Cinda Stevens Lonsway © May 2010
Then whispered to another, "Do you feel it?" and it began to spread, this whisper, from one woman to another, to another, whispering, "Do you feel it? Do you feel it?"
The question was asked, once, then twice, then ten hundred whispers around the world; women wondering what it was they were feeling. The whispering pulsed as the need for the answer grew. "Do you feel it?"
The rhythm became stronger, bolder, as it spread to their hearts; knowing not which was the whisper and which was the heartbeat, for the two became one. More and more women began to feel the pounding of a need, not yet understood, and the rumbling began to stir the earth under their feet.
One woman stood, planting her feet firmly to the soil, raising her voice from a whisper and shouting, "Enough!". "Enough!", yelled the woman standing next to her with her fists pumping the sky.
"Enough, Enough!!" shouted another and another; women holding firm in their stance, arms above their heads, "Enough!" But it wasn't enough to stop the growing whisper, it is never enough when you are a woman, for women aren't always heard, they are taken for granted, too much is expected, too much is asked. We give, we cry, and we shout, but it is never enough to be noticed, appreciated, worshiped.
And the rhythm continued, it did not slow down, the pounding expounded, and the hearts of the women grew more restless. Their whispering was the beginning, their individual shouts were not enough. Then one woman clasped the hands of her sister, who clasped the hands of her mother, who clasped the hands of her friend. One solid sounding clasp after another, to another. A sound of women bonding themselves together, united with the rhythm already sounding in their souls. Hand to hand, heart to heart, and then something happened in the comfort of unity, in the safety of numbers, another moment for another sound, but it came not from one, but from the consciousness of all women.
The sound came from the women of the now - mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters. It came from the women of the ancients. And it came from the ultimate mother, the Mother Earth. For the sound resonated with each and every woman, who had planted her feet into the soil to yell "Enough!". And the women realized the rhythm they felt was not to be stopped, the rhythm was their calling, waking them up to their time. Their time to yell, "Enough!" but not to stop the rhythm of their newly awakened hearts, but to the atrocities done to their mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, their ancestors and their planet.
This understanding, this awakening, began to make their feet stomp, and in unison their voices raised, and what was once a whisper became a rumble, the rumble and grumble turned into a gentle roar. But a roar is not meant to be gentle, a roar is meant to be fierce and powerful, and it grew in tones of base and treble, lows and highs, young and old throats creating a sound not heard in centuries of battle cries lead by priestesses and queens. Until it no longer could be contained or ignored, and they roared, "NO MORE!" "NO MORE…!" and one by one, by tens, by thousands, they roared their loyalty to each other, to their families, to their sisters, their brothers, and to their Mother Earth.
"NO MORE!" said the Roar, "will I see myself as nothing worthy, of nothing beautiful, as less than more!"
"NO MORE!" said the Roar, "will I walk by hungry children and not feed them!"
"NO MORE!" they Roared, "will I ignore a bruised and battered woman and not invite her into my home."
"NO MORE! Will I send our children off to fight wars where there is no cause!"
"NO MORE! Will I tolerate toxic waste being thrown out where only the poor can live."
"NO MORE, NO MORE!" the women roared, "will I know of children and women being sold into slavery, or tortured, or uneducated and do nothing!"
"NO MORE, will I stand by and let the oceans, mountains, air, forests, and fields be raped of their natural beauty or polluted with poison!"
This Roar grew, and the women grew stronger, and those who couldn't hear it before began to be stirred, altered, nervous, scared; for what did this mean, these powerful women roaring, demanding, pledging to change the world and the people around them? It couldn't be good, this roaring, right?
WRONG! For now, nothing could stop the ROAR of NO MORE. And the women swayed, and the women stomped, and the women continued to Roar. Men, good men, began to step into the circles and they too began to roar. The youth, who once thought there was no hope for their future took to the circle, clasped hands with their parents, their teachers, their friends, and in the innocence of a new adventure, joined in the harmony of millions. And the Roar of NO MORE, now one solid vibration, surrounded the world, and the earth began to rumble under their feet.
The planet began to shake, she began to quake, she shuddered and sputtered, she stretched and she pulled, she groaned and moaned, and then it happened. Never before in the history of recorded events has the world ever shifted on it axis, in one bit of a final shoulder shake, Atlas turned this wonderful planet to the light. To the light of nurture, of nature, to the light of bravery, of truth, the light of change, of hope, to the light of Love and of Spirit, but it was to the LIGHT of WOMEN that the earth moved, to a brighter fuller moon in the sky shining among the masses of committed souls around the world.
Then all fell silent.... ... … as parents brought their children home from the streets and from war, as books were delivered to schools and girls entered their doors, fists and threats were no longer raised, and meals were shared with families. Waste dumps were cleaned up, trees were planted, and oceans cleansed. The power of the feminine moon shined equal in the sky to the masculine sun, and just like that, peace was formed, balance restored. For when there is peace, there is room for the Divine, and when the Divine is with women, there is nothing we can't do... ... like rock the world on its axis or feel a whisper coming on.
"Do you feel it?"
If you do, and I know you do, if you are woman alive today, you do... I ask you to feel it, to unite with it, to help spread this whisper, create a stirring, and begin your ROAR of NO MORE! Join me, please, I whisper to you now……
