Shadows

“I can’t watch those slave movies. It hurts too much.” She goes on to say that slavery is used as an excuse and it impedes today’s progress. Her pain is visibly set on her sleeve, yet she knows that progress begins when she moves forward.

Violence is rooted in cultural norms. One woman alleges “men twist scripture to their advantage”. Heads are nodding around the room.

Another woman says, “The priest's solution is to pray about it”. Her church completes her identify. The other half of her identity is the man who is beating her.

And so it goes when women congregate in a safe environment to talk about the women’s role in Saint Lucian society. The invisible veils that cover their lives come off and women get real. Some talk about how they teach their daughters to submit to the same cultural norms they criticize today.

Like Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, it takes a few women to awaken to the shadows of their past that do not represent truth. A woman looks over at me and says, “it’s hard to be a woman”.