It gives me so much joy when I see women that have achieved success in their different fields be it in finance, catering, events management, academics, fashion designing, acting, sports, business, banking, communications, arts, and health, to mention but a few. Women that can walk with their shoulders high to confidently say I made it on my own without a trace of arrogance. Women of substance, women of intelligence, women with brains and beauty. Women that did not let the challenges of life, circumstances surrounding their birth, growing up or upbringing, to ruin their lives or become an object of ridicule or of self pity, but has turned their stories to glory.
However it saddens me that women, most times, cannot tolerate themselves. They do not help themselves. They either turn all circumstances into an unhealthy competition and become agents of rivalry, jealousy, and hatred, which usually leads to inferiority or superiority complex, depending on who can intimidate most or who can compete or undermine most.
I want to use this medium to appeal to women to learn to tolerate one another, to embrace and help one another, in order to “make it happen” among ourselves according to the theme of the 2015 International Women”s Day. Stop being arrogant dear woman, whatever you have is not a right but a privildge from the Almighty. Start thinking of how you can help that woman by the road side whose trade you know cannot feed her or brighten her future. Stop intimidating that poor neighbor who you know needs help to give her life a meaning. Stop being malicious to your fellow woman at work just to pull her down so that you will be the most recognized and favoured.
A token of N5000 (five thousand naira) can put smiles on the faces of many women because they have such intelligence and ideas that could turn that token over into what can sustain them. The price of just a wrapper in your wardrobe my dear woman, can change the story of that woman down your street. The cost of just one of your hair-do can make that beggar on the road to fulfill her destiny. Let women learn to help themselves. Let women start discovering women. Let women start empowering women, let women begin to identify with themselves, let us start tolerating and embracing ourselves. Let us remember we came into this world with nothing and shall return with nothing.
The greatest joy you can have is to see that you have helped a co-woman to live a normal life. That the beggar down the street now has a freezer to sell water and some drinks, that your neighbor”s children can now go to school just because you showed her some love by caring and sharing a little from what God has given you. Be a blessing to your co-women, be the source of joy to some families, be the reason for their new lives, be a destiny maker, identify with the poor, mix with the unprivileged, put smiles on their faces and see how fulfilling it can be to help.
As for you the woman that needs help, kindly drop your pride and embrace the help that comes your way. Stop being intimidated by that your friend because she might be your God-sent. Stop seeing your colleague as a rival because the idea that could promote you might come from her. The Bible says: “ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened for you”. but the personal beef you have for that rich woman on the next street will not even let you see the kindness in her or the smiles she flashes at you when she passes by. Don’t kill that talent in you by being unnecessarily proud, find and embrace help, dear woman. You may not be able to do it alone and God will not come down to physically help you, but has sent that woman that you hate to you to give you the idea or the resources you need to live your dream. Once again, women please help yourselves, let us discover ourselves, let us make women, let us make it happen for our fellow women. Let go of selfishness, greed, pride, arrogance, complex, malice, and hatred in order to make the women’s world a better place. (Basirat Adewumi Tijani, FB|Profiles).