Fab2bFem

Once a young woman asked me,

“How does it feel to be a man?”

And I replied,

“My dear,

I am not so sure.”

Then she said,

“Well, aren’t you a man?”

And this time I replied,

“I view gender

As a beautiful animal

That people often take for a walk on a leash

And might enter in some odd contest

To try to win strange prizes.

My dear,

A better question for Hafiz

Would have been,

‘How does it feel to be a heart?’

For all I know is Love,

And I find my heart Infinite

And Everywhere!”

-Hafiz (13^th century Sufi mystic) Poem from renderings by Daniel Ladinsky in I Heard God Laughing.

Hafiz is correct. We have much in common. We all have a heart. And this is truly the most important factor.

We do happen to experience the world differently as men and women though. The sex hormones  shape our brain structures so that women have a larger emotional center than men and a superhighway for communication.  Then there are the fluctuating hormones that women deal with daily. They affect how we feel, how we think, and even the way we see the world.

Let's take note of and honor the differences. And let us remember, most of all, that  we have a common heart.