Public Prayer: Gendered-Based Violence
Dear God, god, and Universe.
I have come to you in a mood of prayer and contemplation on behalf of our tribe (s), regardless of race, nationality, religion, and sexuality. I ask that you help us see our worth and value beyond any relationships we find ourselves in. Please give us the inner strength and courage to choose ourselves above anything or anyone else. Give us the courage to exit relationships, people, associations, workplaces, or any condition undiscerning our worth and undeserving of our heart. Help us to constantly speak life over ourselves, knowing that "if a tree can die from spoken words, how much more can unkind words kill our spirit." We know to holler and scream at a living thing kills its spirit, yet society has said the unthinkable and ineffable to all women at different times. More so, we know great words are sometimes spoken about us on mothers day and women's day or when one of us wins global awards but not all women get this, not the widow who allegedly killed her husband or the olosho that helped some of these men satisfy their genitalia hunger.
One of us is trending due to death, and everyone has an opinion, including me, but you know she would be blamed either way(separated, divorced, or dead). More so, everyone has a TED talk to give about it, except I remember what the lovely woman you gave me as my mother (Maami Ololade orun re o)would say when we all have opinions. She would say, "ari teni wi, afi apadi bo tie." If one of our tribe lying in the morgue had divorced or separated, someone somewhere would shame her for her inability to save her marriage. She may not be invited to speak at women's conferences. If she wants to run for public office, some will query how someone that cannot save her marriage wants to save Lagos or Nigeria. Also, I wonder if the Angels brief you about Nigeria's 2023 elections, no woman is the presidential flag bearer of any major party. Sweet Lord, if you have an angel that brings you gossip, sorry, father, I know you are all-knowing but to keep you in the loop, politics for our most recent and past history is of the phallus and not the pussy. Please keep this within the window of your thought. And Lord, that is okay, though not acceptable or condonable, as long as another woman leader is not burnt alive as Salome Abuh in Kogi.
Dear God, god, Universe, you know, as the experience of the women ahead of us shows that we have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. Mediocre mind that is incapable of understanding, like Salami, who said that we need more of us to die before seeing the gendered nature of violence. Dear Universe, do you know Salami? His Facebook profile says he teaches at OOU(kindly ask your angels to open a file for him). Father Lord, we know that "It doesn't take effort, preparation, intelligence or skill to criticize; that is why it is the favorite pastime of untrained children and unaccomplished adults," so help us to walk away from opportunities that offer great rewards but compromise your conviction, worth, and value. Strengthen us to stop worshipping and picking our worth and ideals from the shrine of public opinion.
As you strengthen and align our decision and actions for what supports our choices, safety, security, and sanity. Help us to resolve to continue our life even if someone else opposes our right to continue and openly abhors our place on the planet. Help every woman/ womxn to know that time is limited, so we don't waste it living someone else life. Strength us to move beyond dogma which is living with the result of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of other people's opinions drown out our own inner voice. And most important, dare us to follow your heart and intuition.
Dear God, my prayer should be more comprehensive than this, but words are stuck in my throat, and my hands move slowly over my keyboard. Holy Mary and the ancestors of women ahead of us, pray for us, your daughters when words fail to convey our emotions and situation. If anyone thinks we are not any material desirable by any yards or measurements, help us see ourselves as you see us. Thank you because you will work through time to see a more robust institutional, legal framework and society that protect and not just promote women's rights but also human rights. Thank you, Lord,
This is me, Lord, Aburo Iya Olamide, Omo Mama Seyi, Omo Baba Yellow, human, partner, presidential, professorial, daughter, Rich Aunty material ten billion and zillion yards.
Posted on Facebook on October 15, 2022.
I do not own the copyright to this image. Kindly email oyin2010@gmail.com for credit.
