Susan B. Anthony Day (Feb 15th)

I am all about strong-willed, powerful women.

Susan B. Anthony rallied the masses at a time when women did not have that power!

• As an abolitionist, she attacked racial prejudice in the Rochester newspapers.
• As an education reformer, she rallied for equal education of women and former slaves. She even put up the cash value of her own life insurance to assure women could be educated at the University of Rochester!
• As a labor activist, she encouraged women to form Unions and helped to assure proper training for women in the workforce.
• As a temperence worker, she brought alcohol use and abuse to the public's attention.
• As a suffragist, she appeared before every congress from 1869 to her death in 1906 to rally in favor of women's right to vote. That right was finally granted in 1920... 14-years after her death.
• As a women's right campaigner, she petitioned for female jurors for fair trials.

It is a tragedy that in this day and age one would struggle to find such a strong advocate of any meaningful movement. Politicians and those with political sway are often too wrapped up in their own agendas to make such a difference as this one women did. She gathered 10,000 signatures in 26 states in favor of women's suffrage, only to have Congress laugh at her. She had such a strong influence that she helped assure that women's suffrage was included in the Utah constitution years before our U.S. Congress accepted it. Despite her anti-alcohol stance, she refused to support prohibition because she felt it took away from women's suffrage.

And what she did, she did for honest belief. There was no alterior motive. No financial gain. No personal agenda except to better the lives of women.

It pains me to think that we lack that inspiration in these modern times. To stand behind something so strongly as to let Congress tell you no for 40 years without giving up. THAT is a ROLE MODEL!! To heck with platinum records, Oscar winners, and First Ladies!! I want to have my voice heard! I want my daughter's voice heard!

So to all the meak, I implore you... MAKE YOURSELF HEARD!

Do not be the silent icon of a victim! Do not expect others to speak on your behalf! Do not be mute to the suffering you witness! Do not be a doormat or stepping stone! BE A VOICE THEY HEAR!!