Tag: Human Rights

Women

Sabreehna S. Essien, MPH

Today I contemplated the magnificent power that is women. My view of myself during my single life was bittersweet. I spent most my entire life trying to prove my value. I volunteered thousands of hours in my community and even though my resume is excellent people doubt my value or language that describes my own self.

Why is it easy for some to assume fault in someone without personal knowledge of the person.

I have experienced rejection for so long that the need for outside validation is never a pillar for stability of mind. I have been maligned, crucified, publicly humiliated, and betrayed time and time again. My values compel me to forgive, let go, and strive ahead.

I started motherhood in my late thirties which is consider “old” or “high risk”. All the same I carried both my two pregnancies successfully and delivered two beautiful boys for my husband.

The mere process of pregnancy is amazing.

What a woman can do man cannot.

Read it again.

We truly are fearfully and wonderfully made. Just imagine the breast milk our bodies produces to empower our small babies growth and development.

Back to my original thought…there was a point I couldn’t see my value as a female child growing up. I thought it was a curse to be female due to abuse of authority from toxic masculinity. So I strived for perfection which is grasping for straws in sand.

My value as a woman can be quantified in what Christ is to his followers eat and drink. A woman is sustenance to her unborn child, after she gives birth her body remains a place of refuge and sustenance for her growing baby. A woman is also a refuge and sacred space for her husband, her life’s companion, she brings life.

A woman truly presents herself a living sacrifice daily for those she loves in mind, body, and soul. We do this 24/7….365….rain or shine….sickness or health. We give up ourselves and put those we love first always.

What a woman can do man cannot.

Tribute to all the sons, brothers, uncle’s, and fathers who perish(ed)unjustly.

Sabreehna S. Essien, MPH

I awoke early 13th of December 2014 with the birth of this poem….tired and restless and not wanting to get out of bed….the pressure of inspiration compelled me to grab a pen and any scrap of paper to write before daybreak when the words would be like a fog to recall again. I was thinking about what happened in Ferguson as well as other parts of the world: Palestine, Congo, Nigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Syria, India, and sadly the list is longer… where men, youth, boys are dying before their time. At least in my opinion it seems my generation is perishing fighting for the right to exist…how can this be in the 21st century. What type of world is this? It is far from the comfort of story time with my parents as a child….where war was a word not mentioned let alone apart of my vocabulary unless of course you grew up playing “King of the Hill, pine cone wars or apple wars (basically whatever our young minds could find in abundance as ammunition to throw at the opposing team) The news is becoming a burden to watch…my heart has been stirring from the sorrow of not just what has happened in places like Ferguson but to all those who live in communities where they are crying to be heard. Who would have thought that one needed to say my life matters when God created all of us period. There is room enough on this planet for all of us to live peaceable with each other.

Color-lines drawn

With the In-o-Me

The drum-line beat pounds

Ba bum ba bum ba bum

All nations created from one blood

Spiraling into the abyss of a justice system lacking judgment

Robed men clothed in bias

Here… hear…we stand

Human

Stating our case

While our bodies are riddled with false accusations

While the unjust spew hate laced with pious dogmas

It’s a wonder

World half-baked with the legalization of weed

Drunk with hours’ worth of cable T.V.

Reading books has become a novelty

Leaving behind empty shells blank staring eyes

Hypnotized by toxic dietary practices

We need to make a permanent change my friend

365 days a year…New year resolutions

Cannot change 12 months of bad decisions

360 degree turn swerve…

For your life depends on it.