The Many Mes o Me

I was watching a movie the other night. One of the main characters was a woman. who went on a killing spree after being repeatedly sexualized by men. There were so many reactions I had to this:

Pragmatic Me: If she doesn't want to be hit on constantly, why is she wearing lingerie out to clubs?
Feminist Me: She should be allowed to wear whatever she likes. We have to teach men not to objectify women, no matter what they wear.
Anthropological Me: Seriously? You think we can just train men not to sexualize women when they see bare breasts and butts? This is millions of  years of biology at work here. Even if they're nice guys, their gonna notice, even if they don't react.
Neurotic Me: Would someone sexualize me if I was wearing that outfit? I went to the supermarket the other day in a skirt that hardly reached my knees and nothing. Not a second glance from even the produce man. What am I saying? I wouldn't want men to harass me like that. I deserve to walk around in whatever I want, and not be sexualized. Still...it might be nice to be noticed.
Sad Me: I'm too chubby right now to wear lingerie out to clubs anyway. My thighs would be jiggling and my back fat would be all bunched up.
Feminist Me: You are a person, more than just the sum of your body parts. Get over it. You don't owe it to anyone to be pretty or sexy. Focus on your mind.
Pragmatic Me: Shut up, all of you! I paid 3.50 to rent this movie and I missed most of it because of your arguing.
Neurotic Me: 3.50? God. I hope I used the right debit card for this. I'm overdrawn at one of my banks.
Pragmatic Me: This is why we can't have nice things.

Grateful for the Message

I'm not Catholic. But I'm spiritual. I've spent time dabbling in a lot of major religions, and several minor ones as well. What I've come to understand is that many of them say the same thing. In the words of Bill and Ted: Be excellent to each other.

So today I saw the Pope on CNN addressing a bipartisan Congress and I was moved to tears. His message was simple. Care for one another. Don't forget the vulnerable. Work towards bettering the future.

But most of all I was struck by the way everyone listened to him. Such a simple message and all ears and eyes were on him.

It really changed the nature of my day. For once I didn't walk around thinking 'if only I had this' or 'if only I could do that.' All I could think about today was gratitude.

The simplest messages are sometimes the best. And I'm very happy that I got to hear this one.