Being a woman is a peculiar and special state of life. According to the Holy Book, woman was created when none else was able to fill the abyss of emptiness that bedeviled man. Other creatures could not be his companion save woman. At the sight of her, man was so elated that he busted out in a love song: “now at last is the bone of my bone, the flesh of my flesh…” Moreover, the Wisdom books see woman as unique hence it is stated that “he that finds a wife finds a good thing”.
In bringing a new life into the world, it is woman that incubates it from conception nurturing it with love and compassion; undergoes all manner of self denials in order to give the best to the unborn baby. When the baby is born, she cuddles it with so much love that the baby knows none else except her. She feed it from her springs of nutritious milk that handicraft has not been able to replicate. She spends sleepless nights to endeavour that her baby gets all attention. In all these, the woman gives of herself to enrich the baby; she decreases to increase the baby. Hence, to be a woman means selflessness.
For those familiar with prophecies in the Bible, you would agree with me that God loves his people with an everlasting love. The only love similar to this is that displayed by a mother for her child. It is this tender love that a woman implants as a virtue in her child; hence we are all able to love others. (Psychologists have said repeatedly that a child that was not loved by her/his mother hardly loves). It is, therefore, not surprising that a woman is a person of the heart as a man is a person of the head.
Nevertheless, this special state of life is disrespected by some men who should have been eternally grateful for the gift of woman. A man once defended his extra-marital affairs by saying that his wife has become so worn out especially after giving birth to their four children. I hated and pitied him for not appreciating the amount of sacrifice his wife has made to bring up their children. He contributed barely nothing to the bearing and rearing of those children (Don’t tell me he carters for family financially because money does not restore the woman to her original state before she started bearing children). I expected him to retain that tenderness he had for his wife as the apple of his eyes when he pursued her all over the place as a he goat does she goats.
The word union, which comes from the Latin word meaning one, reveals that in the union of man and woman, especially sexual, both partners are equal – no subordinates. For this union to remain firmly bonded, both partners ought to remain true to the love they have for each other. That is, neither the man nor the woman should go about copulating with others thereby weakening the bond of love they share. Hence, if both partners remain one, the effect of this bond is reflected in the life of the woman and how she carters for her children and family as a whole.
Being a woman requires sacrifice just as this sacrifice requires appreciation. Without woman, a man’s world and work would be miserable and short-lived.
