My Hero

My Feminist Hero

In the history of feminism there are many women that an aspiring feminist, political activist and artist could choose as their hero. There are the Frida Kahlo's and Georgia O'Keefe's of the world. There are female senators and congress women. There are governors who in the present are the first females to win in their states, including the current governor of Delaware, the state I grew up in. There are women who run abortion clinics, female geneticists, women who face the dangers of this male dominated society with complete courage. Yet when I look into my own life, the woman who has inspired me the most is not a famous, rich or powerful woman. She isn't an artist, scientist, journalist or political activist.

She's my sister.

She is the mother of six beautiful children. She is a great cook, she is a genius, she is my feminist hero.

Her life has never been easy. She had her first child at the age of 18 after she had dropped out of high school after jumping from home to home, school to school for her entire life. She had her child, she stood up to her boyfriend who abused her and got a job to support herself. Her other five children she had with an ex-marine who at one point had a good job and they had a good life together living in Miami. They came back to Pennsylvania because his father was diagnosed with cancer. Once again my sister moved from home to home with her now jobless husband and several children. They lived in a shoebox sized trailer after getting evicted from several different homes, in several different towns. Her husband was eventually put in jail for resisting arrest and child neglect, after he ran for miles away from cops (in his bare feet) who were there to arrest him for not paying 10 year old fines.

Most women would have been out of luck and ended up homeless, which at this point my sisters family was on the brink of becoming. Yet instead my sister somehow managed to turn her situation around. She had her father move in to help pay the bills and the rent. She enrolled in community college, she got on welfare and received money for daycare for her children. She started taking as many classes as she could take and aced all of them.Just a few months ago she graduated from community college with a paralegal degree and is going to PennState in the fall to major in political science. My sister is planning on going to law school when she graduates from PennState.

At 28 most people freak out about what they haven't achieved in their lifetime. My sister, the welfare mother, who just graduated from college, who never graduated from high school, is completely ok with turning 30. She said to me "What do I have worry about. I have had six kids! Personally I think I have achieved alot." The most inspiring thing about my sister is not what she has achieved, but her outlook on her life. She doesn't look back, she doesn't regret her past, she isn't depressed or overwhelmed with what she has to face. She approaches everything with a strong confidence and a good outlook.

My sister isn't just my hero because she has faced alot and still achieved her goals. Personally she has also done alot from me and helped me achieve my personal goals as well. I was kicked out of my mothers house when I was 16 and permanently when I had just turned 18. My sister took me in both times, paid for my food and my other needs. My sister enrolled me in community college and helped me pick my classes. My sister also gave me something I had been missing my entire life: a home with a family, a place I felt comfortable. My sisters family embraces me, they help me, they encourage me, they love me and appreciate me. Yet they neither expect nor ask for anything in return. My sister even looked for apartments for me when I expressed that I wanted to move out on my own.

I'm not sure if my sister would consider herself a feminist. Yet she gives me inspiration as a woman as to how I can move forward and achieve. I believe at the very core that is what feminism is about. I hope every woman who reads this can either inspire another young woman like me or has a woman in their life who inspires and gives hope to them. All women need support. All women need feminist heroes.