THOUGH THEY'VE BEAT YOU AND THEY'VE FLAYED YOU

AND CURSED THE GODS THAT MADE YOU

You're A Better Man, Uh, Woman Than They Are, Wangari Maathai

Most men are bigger than most women. More muscular. Stronger. Better able to fight, and usually trained or experienced in fighting. Men have a natural advantage in that area, over women. Hence our disapproval of violence against women. It isn't fair. It's not sportsmanlike. It doesn't befit the nobility of the warrior.

Ah, but women can be warriors, too. They also stand and fight who only take the blows, as Wangari Maathai did. And she did it for trees. That's right. Trees. Her vision is a very female one, of life and rebirth, nurturing and giving back to Nature. She planted thirty million trees, across Africa. By planting all those trees, Wangari provided food and water, shelter and firewood, to many many Africans who had nothing else to turn to but those trees. Not landscaping, my friends: Life.

And for her efforts, she was beaten. For planting trees. Brutally beaten by vicious creatures, masquerading as men. A poor, weak, old, helpless, black African woman. And she took it. And she got up again. And she planted more trees. And those trees will go on growing for many years, my friend, after her attackers are gone to fertilize them. And that was her vision. And her vision lives on. For she was right, and righteous, and those violent and stupid men were wrong.

So, for once, the right person got the prize, from the mad Swedish bomber. And though some may disapprove, none ever deserved our recognition more. It seems a crazy thing, perhaps, to give a prize for peace to a woman who only planted trees. Trees, my friend. But, aren't they peaceful, my friend, our sister trees? All thirty million of them?



"Wangari's Golden Day"


"Nobel winner Maathai sounds alarm over planet"


"Peace laureate wants to save Africa's forests"


"NPR's Renee Montagne talks with Maathai."



[LINKED TO: "NOT, HOWEVER THE FIRST WOMAN TO WIN A NOBEL PRIZE " (below).]

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