My Life on the Road, Gloria Steinem

My Life on the Road  by Gloria Steinem is an incredible book.  I bought this book many years ago for myself and a friend.  Due to the amount of books I have and my own previous life on the road, I had yet to get to it.  What a wonderful read! And I finished it on the same day we lost the unstoppable Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  These are two women who fought for equality and made a marked difference in the lives of so many.

Gloria Steinem, while clearly polarizing, played an amazing role in the history of women’s rights as we know them today.  I recall around the time of the last election hearing Cher on a radio program speak to the young women of today.  She wanted them to realize life had not always been so kind to women and that many fought and fought for the rights we have today.  She wanted them to know the importance of voting.  It was about that same time that I watched the movie Suffragette.  I was blown away at the courage and strength and ultimate FIGHT in the women of that time period.  I remember thinking……could I have done it?  I hope so, but I do not know.  What I do know is that I never ever want to take for granted the rights I have.

My key takeaways from this book are about listening and learning, community, talking circles and home. Gloria listened and learned as she built a community of strong and not so strong women….women and communities who had been tossed aside.  She had to learn about cultures and what mattered to them. She wanted to represent them in the right way;  because she had listened, she understood the importance and she cared. She saw communities outside of her own and how it is important to preserve those cultures and to ultimately hear them.  She was the chosen representative of so many.  Listening is imperative for us to grow and evolve and appreciate those different from ourselves.  Even when discussing political beliefs or opinions about current events….why can’t we listen to each other and learn?  I bet there is more common ground that we think.

Gloria saw talking circles as the great equalizer in many ways.  She witnessed women speak up who had never felt they had a voice.  She witnessed healing and opening of minds and hearts. Talking circles provided a safe space for people to express their opinions, thoughts, and needs. The idea of a circle, in my mind, means there is not a leader – we are all in this together.    I love it!  I wonder if we could transform some professional meetings into something more akin to a talking circle – how would that change things?  Would we have more ideas expressed…more creativity brought to the table?  And what about in our groups of friends – could the quietest one feel empowered to speak her mind?

And finally, in her afterword, she talks about home.  Having just spent more time in my own home than in the last 18 years, this really resonated with me.  She spent the majority of her life on the road – without a “home”.  Having a place to call home makes such a difference and spending time there is important too.  I had people ask me, when I was traveling so much, why I had a house.  They would argue I was never there so what was the point?  We all need a place to call HOME – it is not necessarily about the physical space always though that can be important.  There is something so comforting about coming home…..about being in your own space…with your favorite coffee mug and slippers….surrounded by the things that are home to you.  The times I spent on the road were some of the very best times of my life.  Sometimes I was surrounded by strangers.  Sometimes I was with friends.  Sometimes I knew the language and other times I did not.  Likewise, the times I have spent in my home surrounded by the people I love, family and friends, are some of the very best times.

Gloria ends the afterword with a gratefulness for her own home and for the ability to still travel,  for not being tied to the “or” but for having the “and”.  We can have and appreciate both.

Gloria Steinem is a remarkable woman who organized a movement that has shaped our lives as women….and the key is that she was a great organizer.  Being a great organizer is a gift.  Gloria took on something that grew faster and larger than she could have ever imagined.  And she wasn’t necessarily ready for it but she did it.  She took chances and she did things that scared her.  And in doing so……well we know what she accomplished.  I have so much admiration for her passion and her courage.  I am grateful for women like her, who in my very early years, were busy making a difference for the current me!  Thank you Gloria Steinem and thank you Ruth Bader Ginsburg!