My Thoughts on Catching Bin Laden
Most of us got the news late at night, or early Monday morning. Someone on the news said it felt like the entire US just won the World Series. As a baseball fan, I thought that was a good way to describe it.
But as a woman, I had another thought about something else is important to me. Something that makes me feel even more hopeful.
When telling the story of the raid on Bin Laden, some reports said he grabbed a woman and used her as a human shield. I think any coward and every sociopath would do that. But there’s another issue with Bin Laden: his Sharia Law would sanction it.
Sharia is Muslim religious law, and since there is no separation of church and state, it’s the law of the land, so to speak. It makes mince meat out of women’s rights – and practically out of women themselves. It demands that women be totally subservient to men and allows for women to be brutalized, whipped, mutilated or stoned if they step out of line, according to the man – like for wearing slacks. Honor killings are common. In the past couple years, there has been a move to make Sharia law supercede US law in our court system. It’s come up in several cases, one which involved the brutal beating of a spouse and another in the murder of a teenager by her father because he felt his daughter was becoming to Americanized. Sharia isn’t good for women any place.
So, I’m hoping that the end of Bin Laden is the beginning of the end of Sharia-compliant terrorism. As women, we have come too far to go back. And while it sometimes feels like we still have a long way to go, we are making serious progress. I think we’re at a tipping point. So for the rest of my life, and for the generations to come, I want to see women progress as leaders, to speak up without fear and to stand up, living out loud and in living color. That’s what the Victorious Woman Project is all about and it’s what we’re celebrating this whole month.
Happy Victorious Woman Month!!
