Intense is the New Hysteria

Maria dressed in black before Johnny Cash

A few years ago, my daughter and I watched a docu-drama about Maria Montessori (in Italian with Spanish sub-titles).

There's a scene in the movie where Maria locks herself in her room for three days - she screams, cries and wails on the floor.

Maria was the only child of older middle-class parents.  She attended medical school and had an affair with one of her professors that resulted in her becoming pregnant.  He came from a wealthy family with a controlling mother.  His mother arranged for their baby to be taken away from Maria and raised in the country by another family.  Maria's parents and lover colluded with this plan.  Maria had no say - no voice, no vote, no legal recourse even though she was a medical doctor doing important research, an adult woman and a mother.

I would wail for three days too - at least.

It used to be that women were supposed to go along, not rock the boat, be agreeable, do as the men said.  Any opposition was seen as hysteria.

Fu@k that $hit.  In honor of Maria and countless others, use your voice today.  I am speaking to any oppressed group, not just women.

Use your voice, speak your mind, vote, challenge, question, usher in change, progress and revolution wherever it is necessary.

You will be called impolite, brusque, unattractive, rude, intense, a lesbian, challenging, a bitch, and so on.  You will be told to keep your $hit to yourself.  Fu@k that $hit.

A beautiful multi-ethnic woman with hair dyed blond, breast implants and a fear of speaking her mind once told me, "I heard you are intense."

Damn straight.  I'd rather be intense if it means speaking my mind to protect my soul and our human rights.