Religious Icon of Hagia Sophia by Eileen McGuckin
Unfortunately our wisdom can be bought, suborned, which is what I see in all the pretty women around Mr. T. Somewhere along the way, they must have learned that wisdom seldom endears and often runs counter to the interests of the male establishment. And there are always rewards for our silence and compliance: credit cards, big houses, expensive cars and the fawning of the Big Man’s cronies who see or hope to see a way to the throne through us.
Of course there may be exceptions unknown to me, a woman who said something about the suffering we see on all hands, a woman from another country who sees her compatriots’ chances limited or ended. Melania Trump’s miserable expression during last Saturday’s Parade of Ego surely meant she wasn’t having a very good time.
But I expect she felt she had to come up with a really expensive birthday present any-way.
Now and then I amuse myself with imagining a conversation between those two when they are doing something ordinary like brushing their teeth—a humble necessity even with gold-plated toothbrushes:
She: “Well, Honey, that was quite a parade today. Were you satisfied?”
He: (brush brush) “Should have been more tanks. I only counted a dozen.”
“Well, but they were such big tanks. I thought they really made a fine showing.” (brush brush)
He: (spitting) “And those guys with the parachutes. Why, anybody could do that, dropping down from what was it, maybe five hundred feet?”
“More like a thousand, I thought.”
“You’re wrong there.” (More brushing) “And what idiot put those soldiers in World War One uniforms?”
She: (spitting) “I think they were trying to honor the history of the army.”
“Are you an idiot? They were honoring the history of ME.” (Spitting)
“I’m sorry, Honey. I hate to mention it, but my bank account is overdrawn. I think it was that trip to the spa in California. You remember you wanted me to go…”
“I never wanted you to go. You’re delusional. Nothing’s going to make you young again.”
“I’m really sorry about that, Honey! But could you pretty please tell somebody to put more money in my checking account? Just one million or maybe two…”
Well, we can dream. But until Lady Wisdom learns to avoid the blandishments of power and stay out of the old traps—flattery, disempowering criticism, mercenary appetites—she will not exercise the power we need right now. We saw that power in the demonstrations, we felt it in the cheering and chanting when women’s voices rose high. Lady Wisdom is eternal and she will decide all our outcomes in the end.
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