Ladies, Maintain your Dignity, Power and Respect.
by Elaine Carter
I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, For Colored Girls. The movie brings up food for thought about male and female relationships. How do you maintain your dignity and wholeness in a challenging relationship? Every breathing Soul has the right to peace of mind, dignity and respect.
In my novel, Bee Quiet, I have a character named Rev. Franklin. He is a preacher who tells it like it is. In this quote from the book, he is giving a sermon to his congregation. This is what “he” has to say about ladies maintaining their dignity in relationships. This is an excerpt from the book.
Rev. Franklin:
“This was just laid on my heart. Now! Ladies, ladies, ladies, ladies! I can’t tell you how many women I have counseled who come to me with broken hearts. “He left me.” “He cheated on me.” “He used me.” “He ain’t acting right.” There are so, so many good men out there who know how to treat a woman with respect and love. But what do some of you do? You go straight to the “bad boys,” the guys that you know ain’t gonna respect you in the first place. They ain’t gonna treat you right. They ain’t gonna be faithful and who’s intention is to use you to gratify themselves. You’re disposable to him.
“Ladies, I hate to say, you’ve souled-out. You have essentially taken your heart in your hand and handed it to a man to take nice delicate care of it for you.
“Nope! It doesn’t work like that. First of all, you have to stand on your own two feet, respect yourself and be solid and secure in who you are. A man is not to complete you. A man is not to be your all-and-all. You are setting yourself up to get hurt. Most men are sporty, so what’s going to happen with that heart when it’s placed
