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V-Day
(official site)
September 12, 2001 :
A message from Eve Ensler about the recent
violence in America
I HAVE BEEN THINKING
I have been thinking about violence. I have been thinking about an
airplane full of terrified women and men and children smashing into
a tower full ofunsuspecting women and men who were just sipping
their morning coffee. I have been thinking of the burning people
jumping from the 100th floor, jumping for their lives. I have been
thinking about the hundreds of firefighters and police officers who
were lost, crushed under a collapsing tower. I have been thinking
about a husband waiting in his office for 14 hours for his wife who
worked on the 104th floor, his wife who had not called, who was
probably never going to call, and yet he was still waiting. I was
thinking of the man who called his mother from the hijacked plane
to tell her he loved her, to remember he loved her. I have been
thinking about the debris and the dust on New Yorkers' shoes and
how shocked we are here in America, how protected we have been. I
have been thinking about all the war torn countries I have been to,
Bosnia, Kosova, Israel, Afghanistan, and the dust on the peoples'
shoes and the debris. I have been thinking about the people who
were driven to hijack airplanes with knives and box cutters and fly
them through buildings, who were ready, eager to lose their lives
to hurt other people. I have been thinking about why, what would
make people want to do that. I have been thinking about the words
retaliation and punishment and act of war. I have been thinking
about violence, what it feels like to be nothing to someone else.
What it feels like to be a consequence of someone else's
disassociated rage, disconnected fury. I have been thinking about
the cycle of hurt for hurt, nation against nation, tit for tat. I
have been thinking about how deeply something else is required. I
have been thinking about the courage it requires to think about
something other than violence as a response to violence. I am
thinking about the complexity of this and the loneliness of this
and the helplessness and the sorrow that would be felt in the space
where violence once was and the grief. I have been thinking that
for those of us who are living on the planet right here, right now,
we must live in this dangerous space, allowing the helplessness,
the grief, the sorrow to create new wisdom that can and will and
must free us from this terrible prison of violence. I urge you,
each one of you - fall into this space, weep, be lost, let go, die
into the grief - inside the emptiness and the pain it will be
revealed. Stop The Violence. Spread The Word. Join us.
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V-Day, the brainchild of an amazing dedicated group of people is
celebrated every Valentines Day to end violence towards women. It
began when playwright Eve Ensler's daring, provocative and
heartfelt show, "Vagina Monologues", began circling the
globe.
Eve is the most passionate and committed woman I have ever had the
pleasure of meeting. She has traveled to Bosnia to meet with rape
victims, has helped fund schools for girls in oppressive
Afghanistan and is tireless in her vision to make all women safe
from violence.
This year, V-Day was held at Madison Square Garden with 70 female
stars including Glenn Close, Jane Fonda, Gloria Steinem and Oprah
to name a few. Equally impressive, were "What Girls Know",
featuring 20 young girls who rocked the stage. Their fabulous
singing and carefully choreographed moves, spoke of the painful
truth about adolescence, while infusing hope and
encouragement.
I applaud Eve Ensler in her selfless journey. I urge all of you to
visit the V-Day site and to experience first hand "The Vagina
Monologues".