Olympe de Gouges: She Dared and Lost her head!

Why look back? What’s in the past worthy of mine time?

Confucius said,”Study your history and you may define your future.”

I believe Confucious made a good point. To me, our past seems like a tsunami blanketing the Earth! For myself, I’m curious and audacious. Much as I know Olympe de Gouges lived her life. Imaginative. Creative. Strong. I would have loved to have set and shared a cup of tea or wine. As a would-be farm girl, I fear we would have traveled in different circles. However, I’m sure our paths would have crossed.

Looking back I discovered the documentary ‘The Ascent of Woman’ and became captivated by the story of Olympe de Gouges. She fought for the Rights of Women most of her life and was found guilty of sedition and executed (they chopped her head off) by guillotine at 4 PM on November 3rd, just 18 days after Marie Antionette. The ultimate price to pay for speaking out.  

Olympe de Gouges wrote and published the “Declaration of the Rights of Woman and of the Citizen” modeled after the “Declaration of the Rights of Men and of the Citizen. Olympe extended the same Rights of Men to Women. Asserting that women had the ability to reason and make moral decisions, establishing that emotion and feeling were a virtue. That woman was not just the same as a man, but his equal.

French women fought in the French Revolution, yet, were denied French Citizenship. Rage comes to mind. No wonder they stormed the castle.

Liberty Leading the People, Eugène Delacroix, 1830, Louvre, Paris

Today, France has a special place for burying its favorite men—the Pantheon, built in 1790, a giant, marble mausoleum to honor the greatest Frenchmen. Honoré Gabriel Riqueti, Comte de Mirabeau, a scholar and early leader of the French revolution, was the first man to be buried there. Since then, the mausoleum has been filled with 73 bodies. Only one of the honored dead is a woman: Marie Curie. But now, France has announced it will add two more women to the Pantheon.

So glad I stumbled upon Olympe de Gauges. I’m spurred on. I’m so outraged by what I find in the past…much seems outrageous, ludicrous, immoral and unjust. Thank you Olympe de Gauges. You are brave. You are strong. You are special.

 

 

About Gailstrail

Our intent on separating ourselves from nature has limited our vocabulary. Our lack of understanding of nature and our place within makes us deaf to the heartbeat of our world. The history of our ' self-based society explained by a YouTube video 'The Happiness Machine'; studies the influence Fraud and his Nephew Edward Bernays had in shaping our ' self-based society...which still prevails! In contrast, and left out of much of our history, ancient sages felt knowing thyself so important they chiseled 'Know Thyself' in stone over the mythical god Apollo's tomb. They believed: “Self-knowledge is all-encompassing. What is learned on one scale of experience can be applied to all scales? It is the highest form of knowledge, surpassing all other knowledge. Self-knowledge is also timeless, which means that what is gained in one era, benefits all subsequent generations.” Knowing oneself has intricate beginnings. Time-consuming beginnings. Beginnings are a part of every living being; soil, water, air, and all we see. The connections are innate. Undeniable. Going beyond the name of a thing is the language of science. It is a language humans must learn to speak. Life in all forms is precious and necessary. We sustain each other in ways we do not fully understand. Humans are more than a workforce. We, each of us, are the stewards of our world and must educate ourselves accordingly. Education reform must be a priority. The mandatory curriculum must reflect stewardship of our communities, cities, states, countries, and the planet; at all levels in our educational institutions, never-ending and free. Appropriate time should be allowed for such intricate education. It must not be hurried. Making the language of science a mandatory part of our un-civilization will unlock the mystery which lies within each of us. Learning the language of science will answer that question that is always gnawing in our being, alluding to us and seems unanswerable. When we learn the language of science, we learn who we and the life around us are, how we connect, and our purpose. The world does not stand still. Neither must we. Change happens no matter what we do or do not do. We, humans, are fortunate. We have the ability and brilliance to direct some of these changes. What we do and do not do matters enormously! Manifesting Generator

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